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THE COCKPIT 
Romantic Drama in Three Acts 



By 
ISRAEL ZANGWILL 



The War God 

Plaster Saints 

Chosen People 

Ghetto Comedies 

Ghetto Tragedies 

Italian Fantasies 

The Melting Pot 

The Next Religion 

Jinny, The Carrier 

The Voice of Jerusalem 

The King of Schnorrers 

Children of the Ghetto 

The World and the Jew 

The War for the World 

The Principle of Nationalities 



THE COCKPIT 



Romantic Drama in Three Acts, 



BY 

ISRAEL ZANGWILL 



THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
1921 

All rights reserved 






Copyright, 1921, 
By the MACMILLAN COMPANY. 



Set up and electrotyped. Published November, 1921. 



NOV 18 I'd 21 
§)C!.A6277'75 



Printed in the United States of America 



TO ALFRED SUTRO 

My dear Alfred, 

Your inspiring criticism and commendation of this 
play while it was still plastic has suggested to me to 
dedicate it to our old friendship. That friendship was 
already well and truly laid before "The Walls of 
Jericho" rose, and it was cemented by holidays to- 
gether In Europe ere, caught in the coil of passports, 
visas and commerce-strangling currencies, the inhab- 
itants of that unhappy Continent had turned into a 
mutual irritation society. The multiplication of "Sov- 
ereign States" has intensified the old plague of Custom 
Houses, and on the eve of a fresh journey across the 
Channel, I think with horror of the swarms of able- 
bodied varlets, waiting, in fancy costumes, at every 
frontier, to turn me out of my train In the middle of 
the night in any weather, when they ought to be at 
work reconstructing the Continent of which we are all 
citizens. 

For what, in effect, does one find even In the heart 
of "The Cockpit"? Peasant populations toiling from 
dawn to darkness, the women following the men to 
the fields, with distaffs on their backs, and their chil- 
dren tugging at their skirts, and all for a crust dipped 
in soup, a song, a folk-tale, or the smile in a baby's 
eyes. It is hard to tell one people from another. I 
have not yet learnt what has happened In Valdania or 



Bosnavina since I dropped the curtain on these quar- 
relsome countries, but of one thing I am certain — that 
their individuals are intermarrying. If the politicians 
would only leave It alone, "The Cockpit," linked as 
never before by railways, telegraphs, cinematographs 
and aeroplanes, would become of itself "The Melting 
Pot." 

Curiously enough, this pendant to my play on that 
theme was written near Geneva while the League of 
Nations was in session — in the Switzerland whose 
French, German and Italian provinces offer a work- 
ing model and prophetic emblem of a saner Europe — 
and it receives its last touches on the eve of the Wash- 
ington Conference, which provides our war-worn 
humanity with a fresh spurt of hope. One recalls that 
it was Abraham Lincoln who said of his countrymen: 
"We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last great 
hope of earth." 

But I am forgetting that for the reader the curtain 
has not yet risen. I hasten to efface myself, wkh the 
perhaps superfluous assurance that in accepting the 
dedication of this play, you, dear Alfred, are in no 
way committed to its vision or analysis of the factors 
of "The Cockpit." 

Believe me in admiration and affection, 

Yours sincerely, 

Israel Zangwill. 
October, 1921. 



"There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that under- 
standeth, there is none that seeketh after God. . . . Their throat is 
an open sepulchre; with their tongues have they used deceit; the poison 
of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitter- 
ness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery 
are in their ways. And the way of peace have they not known." — 
St. Paul: Epistle to the Romans. 



"He who chooses to avenge wrong with hatred Is assuredly 
wretched, but he who strives to conquer hatred with love fights his 
battle in joy and confidence; he withstands many as easily as one, and 
has very little need of fortune's aid. Those whom he vanquishes yield 
joyfully, not through failure, but through increase in their powers. 
Hatred, which is completely vanquished by love, passes into love." 
— Spinoza. 



All performing rights of this play in 
every country are strictly reserved by 
the author. Applications for Ameri- 
can and filming rights should be ad- 
dressed to Mr. L. A. Steinhardt, of 
Messrs. Guggenheimer, Untermyer 
& Marshall, I20 Broadway, New 
York City, U. S. A. 



THE COCKPIT 

Romantic Drama in Three Acts 



DRAMATIS PERSONAE 



Nicholas Stone 

Oliver Randel 

Duke D'Azollo 

Colonel the Marquis Fiuma 

Count Cazotti 

Baron Gripstein 

General Roxo 

The Cardinal 
The Patriarch 

Marrobio 

Captain Theopolou 

Corporal Vanni 

Vittorio 

Duchess D'Azollo 

Countess Cazotti 

Norah 

Peggy 



A Neiu Yorker with a past 

An American Architect 

Ex-Regent of Valdania 

Governor of the Palace of San Marco 

Prime Minister of Valdania 

Financier, afterivards President of 
the Man-Po'wer Board 

Governor of Scaletta, afterivards 
War Minister 

Head of the Catholics of Valdania 

Head of the Greek Church in Val- 
dania 

A Mahdi, head of the Moslem rebels 

Of the Rolmenian Cavalry 

Of the Palace Guards 

A Pacifist Poet 

Mistress of the Robes, and Grand 
Mistress of the Court 

First Lady of the Bedchamber 

Nicholas Stone's Irish Servant 

Of Neiv York and Scaletta 



Court Officials, Dames and Maids of Honour, Pages, 
Choristers, Priests and Guards. 

The action passes in our day. Act I at Nicholas Stone's Sitting-Room 
in Nevj York, Acts H and HI in the Throne Room of the old San 
Marco Palace at Scaletta, the capital of Valdania. 



Act I 

The scene represents a spacious sitting-room in New 
York on a sunny afternoon in the spring. The 
room is soberly furnished, but with every sign of 
ease and refinement. A central table of fine wood. 
A grand piano littered with music stands by the 
right wall — right from the actor's point of view, 
not the spectator's — at L. a desk with a telephone, 
and a waste-paper basket holding a Sunday paper, 
etc. A door in the right wall leads to the kitchen 
regions, a curtained portal to the left towards the 
upper regions, while the door in the back wall gives 
access to the entrance hall. As the curtain rises, 
NORAH, an Irish servant of ^5, is ushering in 
OLIVER RANDEL, a manly young American, who 
carries a portfolio. 

NORAH [Grumpily, in an Irish accent modified by 

years of A 7n eric a] 
Sit right down! I'll tell Mr. Stone you're here again. 

OLIVER 

Oh I know he's always busy on his books. Miss Stone 
will do as well 

NORAH [frith sardonic humour] 

Miss Peggy? You're sure she'll do as well? 

OLIVER [Enthusiastically] 
Quite ! 



NORAH 

She's out. 

OLIVER 

Oh! . . . Where? 

NORAH 
On her horse. 

[OLIVER makes an instinctive move doorwards.] 
She'd keep you on the run — like a movie. And Mr. 
Stone'll keep you waiting, like a dentist. 

OLIVER [Sitting down] 

Oh, I've time to burn. May I look at that paper? 
[Points to waste-paper basket.] 

NORAH [Astonished] 
Yesterday's? 

OLIVER 

The Sunday paper is like the Sunday roast — it lasts 
days. 

[ NORAH extracts it.] 
Thanks . . . just the one I haven't seen . . . No, 
never mind the comic part! 

NORAH 

Faith, there's nothing heartening in the rest — if half 
the headlines is true, I'm sorry I ever came to America ! 

2 



OLIVER [Busy turning the pages'] 

But think how you'd be oppressed, if you had stopped 

in Ireland I 

NORAH 

I guess if we Irish got top-dog here, we'd oppress 
America! 

[Turns to go upstairs. Her eye catches a comic 

illustration.'] 
Gee! That's funny! 

OLIVER [Staring eagerly at a picture] 
Ah, here it is! 

NORAH 

Here what is? 
[Turns back."] 

OLIVER 

Oh, nothing. 

NORAH 

Then why didn't you say so? . . . 
[Resumes walk to stairs.] 

You're in luck. There's the master coming down. 

You can tell him you're here yourself. 

[Moves slowly towards R., her head bent over 
paper, her face agrin. Enter NICHOLAS STONE, a 
noble, white-bearded, spectacled veteran, with the 
scholar's stoop and shabbiness. He comes peering 
into his desk at L.] 



NICH. [Surprised, as he perceives the visitor] 
Mr. Randel? 

OLIVER [Rising] 

I intrude, I fear. But I'm going West to-morrow. 

NICH. 

Going West, young man? Obeying Horace Greeley? 

OLIVER 

It's the big new University they're to build 



NICH. 

Oh, ah — the how many million dollar University? 
And have you sent in your design yet? 

OLIVER 

It's all over. I've won. Out of eighty-three com- 
petitors ! 

NICH, [Seizes his hand] 
I congratulate you. 

OLIVER 

My picture was in all the Sunday papers. 

NICH. [Dropping his hand] 
I take back my congratulations. 

OLIVER [Smiling] 

Oh, sir, you may gird at our press — but at least they 

give an architect as much space as an assassin. 

4 



NICH. 

Not quite. You've got your hand on a full-page pic- 
ture of General Roxo. 

OLIVER [Lookinff at it and reading] 
"Valdania's grand old man." You are severe. 

NICH. 

What are all these national heroes but glorified assas- 
sins? 

[/Is NORAH is going out] 
Coffee, Norah, please. 

NORAH [Gurgling over paper] 
Sure ! 

[Exit with heaving shoulders.] 

OLIVER [Proffering portfolio] 
Would you like to see my design? 

NICH. [Waving it aside] 

Ah, I know how good American architecture is, and 

the best out of eighty-three ! If I could only be as 

sure the University will teach Americanism ! People 
have such a mania for buildings — theatres before 
they've got plays, opera-houses before they've got 
music. 

OLIVER [Opening portfolio] 

But that's just what my design expresses — Ameri- 
canism. 



NICH. 

Mayflower Americanism? 

OLIVER 

Of course! Note the severe and solemn lines — the 
old Puritan Americanism which the slums of Europe 
are swamping. 

NICH. {JVaving it away] 

I thought you didn't understand. No man born here 
can — no man who hasn't suffered from Europe! No, 
Mr. Randel, that old Puritan America wasn't America. 

OLIVER 

Not America? 

NICH. 

No. Only England over again — writ even narrower. 
America is still being born — born out of the travail of 
all races. God help the world if she proves an abor- 
tion — if she hardens into the same old nationalism as 
Europe-^the same old fetish of the flag. 

OLIVER [Fiercely] 
Fetish? 

NICH. [Laying a fatherly hand on his shoulder] 
Yes, I know you offered your life in the Great 
War 

OLIVER 

Oh, I only flew — it was much safer than the trenches. 
6 



NICH. 

Tell that to the marines! But anyhow it was for our 
ideal you adventured, not our flag. 

OLIVER 

The flag stands for it. 

NICH. 

Flags have a way of standing only for themselves. In 
all history there has been only one honest flag — the 
skull and cross-bones! 

OLIVER 

You are cynical, sir. 

NICH. 

On the contrary. My faith is so burning that it re- 
duces the toughest shams to tinder. 

[Extends hand.] 
I'm afraid I must get back to my book. The Nemesis 
of Nationality; a good title, is it not? 

OLIVER [Holding out his hand] 
Yes, but 

NICH. [Dropping his hand] 
You don't think it a good title? 

OLIVER 

It's a bully title. But ... but unless I see Miss 
Stone to-day I mayn't be able to say good-bye to her. 

7 



NICH. 

I will convey your adieux. 

OLIVER [Embarrassed] 

I'd rather convey them myself. . . . You see now 

that the papers . . . 

[Correcting himself has lily.] 
I mean, now that I'm making good, I want — I want 
to ask — her advice ! 

NICH. 

Little Peggy's advice ! Why, she's wrapped up in 
her music — she knows nothing of the world ! No, no, 
my young friend, if you want advice, come to me. You 
mayn't think it, to see me buried in books, but I've 
been quite a man of affairs in my time — when you were 
both in your cradles! Come now, what is the trouble? 

OLIVER 

You're so busy. I'd rather wait for her. 

NICH. 

But that's so dull for you. What could you do? Ah, 
you could read my MS.? 

OLIVER [Joyously] 
The very thing I wanted ! 

NICH. [Beaming] 

Come along then — I'll put you on the roof-garden. 

[The telephone bell rings.] 
8 



Ah, why would Peggy Insist on that? Do get the MS. 
yourself — you know my study. 

[OLIVER exit L. NICHOLAS ffoes to telephone] 
Yes, I'm Mr. Stone. ... I can't hear. ... Of 
course I'm home, but who's speaking? General Secre- 
tary? General Secretary of what? Corpo li Bacco, 
they've rung off. 

[Enter NORAH with coffee-tray.] 

NORAH 

I'm so glad you've got rid of him. 

NICH. 

Mr. Randel? He's waiting upstairs for Miss Peggy. 

[Her tray rattles.] 
What's the matter? 

NORAH 

Can't you see he's a thief? Oh, he won't pinch your 
books! It's a body-snatcher, he is! 

NICH. [Dazed] 
A body-snatcher? 

NORAH 

It's Miss Peggy he's after! 

NICH. 

Eh? Nome di Dio, what would the house be without 
her? But no ! no ! he's going West. He only came to 
say good-bye! 

9 



NORAH 

The most dangerous word of all ! Get him West be- 
fore he can put his tongue to it. 
[Puts tray on table.] 

NICH. [Agitated'] 

I'll get rid of him at once. . . . 

[Goes L. Pause.] 
But it's a pity to disturb him in the middle of my MS. 
After all, he can't carry her off this afternoon! 

NORAH 

He can carry her heart off. 

NICH. 

Well, but why not? . . . Some years hence, of 
course. . . . He seems a gifted young man 

NORAH 

A farmer's son for the likes of her ! 

NICH. 

Ah, but remember, Norah, in her peculiar situation it's 
not so easy to find a suitable — indeed, perhaps the 
humbler the young man's origin the better ! 

NORAH 

Sure, you're joking. 

NICH. 

Not at all. Because — don't you see? — his folks will 
make fewer inquiries. They won't go poking into the 

ID 



past, they and their lawyers, demanding pedigrees, 
birth-certificates, who knows? We are rich — that will 
cover everything. 

NORAH 

I guess you're right. I hadn't thought of the family 
ferreting out that Miss Peggy is a 

NICH. 

Sh! 

NORAH 

All the same, she can do better than this Mr. Randel. 
Besides, he's a Protestant! . . . I'll run up and tell 
him the 'phone message was to say she won't be home 
till morning. 

NICH. [Smiling] 

What a brilliant liar you are! 

NORAH 

Sure, It's as easy as truth! 
[Goififf L.] 

NICH. [Sighing] 

Ah, truth's not always so easy. . . . You've never 

breathed a word to her about Valdania? 

NORAH 

Faith, I've nigh forgotten the country exists — I almost 

believe with the darlint she was born In New York! 

II 



[Going towards stairs L.] 
As for the language, divil a word do I remember ex- 
cept Cor pa di Bacco! 

NICH. 

Too late, Norah, I hear her latchkey. 

NORAH [Returning] 

That young man has the divil's own luck ! Anyways, 

don't leave 'em alone, sir. Two's courtship and 

three's conversation. 
[Exit R.] 

[PEGGY in a riding-habit dashes through central 
door, flushed from her ride, a radiant figure, whose 
face mirrors with tremidous flashings an eager 
young soul untarnished by experience.] 

PEGGY [Leaving door open and rushing to piano- 
music] 
Where's my "Neapolitan Fantasy"? 

NICH. 

What's up? 

PEGGY [Searching wildly] 

I met Teresa — she wants to take the manuscript to 

Europe — she sails Saturday. 

NICH. 

But why can't Teresa travel without your manuscript? 

12 



PEGGY 

She's going to show it to a publisher, stupid. There's 
more chance over there. 

NICH. 

But / offered to publish it 



PEGGY 

No, no, it mustn't be paid for — my music must win out 
of itself. Ah, here it is ! 

[Picks up MS. music] 
Heigho ! Teresa set me just hungering for Europe ! 

NICH. 

You would leave daddy? 

PEGGY 

I'd take him too. 

NICH. 

There's too much globe-trotting, carissima. People 
ought to stay put. 
[Closes door.] 

PEGGY 

At that rate, daddy, you'd be in England. 
[Rolling up MS.] 

NICH. [Embarrassed] 

Yes, but Is that the piece suggesting Naples 

during an earthquake? 

13 



PEGGY 

An eruption of Vesuvius. 

NICH. 

Ah, an eruption. It should be popular with pianists. 
They love fireworks. 

PEGGY 

Don't tease. 

\^Lays music-roll on table.'] 
What appalling cups! 

[Rings bell by door sharply, then starts taking of 

her riding-hat. Enter norah.] 
Why these dreadful enamelled cups? 

NORAH 

Faith, the master is that fond of toasts, the gentlemen 
always crack 'em together — they forget it's coffee, not 
drink. I tan't have my best china chipped. 

PEGGY 

Rubbish! You give the house too poor an appear- 
ance as it is, monopolising the work, scarcely allow- 
ing us even a cook. 

NORAH [Bridling] 

I guess I've made Mr. Stone comfortable all these 

years. 

PEGGY 

In our position we ought to have a proper staff. 
14 



NORAH 

I'm not going to have more servants — they'd only- 
make more work for me! 

PEGGY 

Don't talk to me in that tone ! 

NICH. [Upset] 
Peggy ! 

PEGGY 

Take away those cups ! 

NORAH [Overawed] 
Yes, miss. 

PEGGY [Stamping foot] 
But you're not doing it! 

NORAH 

I must get my tray, miss. 
[Exit humbly R.] 

PEGGY [Smiling] 

You see, daddy, you let her domineer too much ! 

NICH. 

I see you are your father's daughter! 

PEGGY 

I like that! Why, you don't even assert yourself. 

15 



NICH. [Confused] 

I — we — I mean I can't assert myself against Norah. 

,We both owe her too much. 

PEGGY 

Oh, I know she nursed me and all that. But all the 

same 

[norah returns with tray and the new china.] 
I'm sorry, Norah, I spoke severely. 

NORAH 

Bless you, Miss Peggy, I like it when you talk like that 

— it's only natural. 

PEGGY 

No, it isn't, it's unnatural. Haven't you been almost 
a mother to me? 

NORAH [Blubbering] 

Don't, Miss Peggy, or I'll be dropping my best china. 

[Goes to table and changes cups.] 
Divil take the "Drys." I've been in many God-for- 
saken places, but never one where you had a detective 
down your throat! 

[Exit R.] 

NICH. [Laughingly] 

That's another reason for not going to Europe — you 

said you were hungering for it, but people would think 

you were thirsting. 

i6 



PEGGY 

Don't pretend to be a Philistine ! You know very well 
that we Americans have no romance, no art, no 
music . . . 

NICH. 

I ought to have known college turns out Europe-snobs ! 
Parasites on her decaying civilisation. I ought never 
to have let you learn Italian, You'll end with the gang 
in Florence who won't go home ! 

PEGGY 

But if America shocks them! 

NICH. 

A shock is God's message to set what shocks you right. 

PEGGY 

You can't remedy rawness. 

NICH. 

More easily than rottenness. I wonder what your 
idea of a European city is. Naples, I suppose, with 
Vesuvius in continuous performance. 

PEGGY 

No, daddy, my European city snuggles among snow- 
mountains that play bo-peep with you through the 
mists. And at their feet the women sing strange, sad 
songs as they strip the vines. 

17 B 



NICH. 

What's the matter with Cahfornla? 

PEGGY [Not listening, growing more and more rapt] 
And you look up in terror at the giant's castle perched 
on the crags and the waterfalls hurling themselves 
down upon you. 

NICH. [Uneasily] 
How about Niagara? 

PEGGY 

But in the thirsty summer the giant drinks them up, 
and you see the mountain-girls coming down to the 
wells, with their wooden water-kegs strapped on their 
backs. 

NICH. [More uneasily] 
Eh? 

PEGGY 

Such enchanting girls — just like those in Matthew 
Arnold's poem, you know: 

"The red-snooded Phrygian girls 
Whom the summer evening sees 
Flashing in the dance's whirls 
Underneath the starlit trees 
In the mountain villages." 

NICH. [Relieved] 

Ah, it's from Matthew Arnold you got it! 



PEGGY 

I suppose so. It makes me cry to feel it all so fresh 
and magical. And the white sails on the lake! Like 
giant butterflies poised on the water. And the steep 
cobbled streets with Madonnas and beggars at every 
corner. And the sleepy old mosques and bazaars 

NICH. [Visibly startled again'] 

Mosques and Madonnas ! Aren't you mixing things 

up? 

PEGGY 

Now you've blotted out my dream-city! And it was 

looking so beautiful! . . . 

[Drops on the music-stool; her fingers abstractedly 
strike out a strange barbaric melody.] 

NICH. [Still more agitated] 
What are you playing? 

PEGGY 

Nothing — only a bit of tune that often comes Into my 
head — I must develop it some day. . . . Ah, there's 
my dream-city again with the band playing it in the 
Piazza ! What a motley sun-splashed crowd — fezzes, 
broidered bodices, gold-braided uniforms, gipsy rags, 
cockades, turbans, cassocks, gaberdines — and all, as 
the music crashes, turning Into one great soul that 
strains up to the balcony! 

NICH. [Alarmed] 
What balcony? 

19 



PEGGY 

A side of the Palace gives on to the square — and one 
great shout goes up to it. Viva II Re! Viva II Re! 

NICH. [Trying to laugh it off] 
I told you you'd end in Italy! 

PEGGY [Still dazedly] 
Is it Italy? 

NICH. 

If your dream-mob cheers its King in Italian. 

PEGGY [Smiling at herself] 

I suppose it's because there are so few other Kings 

left! 

NICH. 

Fortunately. But you mustn't indulge in day-dream- 
ing. 

PEGGY 

But it's so lovely floating down on the raft. 

NICH. [Startled again] 
The raft? 

PEGGY 

Seeing the old-world villages on the banks and 



NICH. 

Don't, Peggy! 
20 



PEGGY 

One must forget Fifth Avenue. 

NICH. 

Heavens! You've made me forget Mr. Randel. 
That coffee is for him. 

PEGGY 

Oliver? . . . Mr. Randel, junior, do you mean? 

NICH. 

Yes, he's waiting for you — on the roof-garden. Won't 
you go up to him? 

PEGGY 

And why can't he come down — for his coffee? 

NICH. 

Well, bring him down. He's got such interesting 
news. 

PEGGY 

The University? I'd already wired my congratula- 
tions. There's nothing else? 

NICH. 

I fancy there is. A much greater subject for congratu- 
lation. 

{^Exit PEGGY L., wondering y smoothing her hair. 

NICHOLAS rings agitatedly. NORAH appears.'] 

21 



NICH. 

You said you'd never told Peggy about Valdania. 

NORAH [Indignantly'] 

And have I ever even told her what her mother was 
like? "Look in the glass" is the most she's gotten 
out of me. 

NICH. 

But she's just given me an exact description of Sca- 
letta ! And played the National Anthem ! 

NORAH 

You don't say! The cute little memory! 

NICH. 

But she wasn't three. 

NORAH 

I wasn't two when mammy gave dad a black eye, but 
I remember every word of the conversation. Says 
dad 

NICH. 

Never mind that now. I've sent her up to Mr. Ran- 
del, and I hope she'll say "Yes." The sooner Europe 
is blotted out the better. And she'll go West with 
him — still further from Europe. The very husband 
we need ! 

NORAH 

But, Mr. Stone 1 

22 



NICH. 

Don't let us fly in the face of Providence. 

NORAH 

Providence? And him a Protestant? 

NICH. 

And suppose she's the instrument to convert him? 

NORAH 

That's so. . . . But if she ain't stuck on him? 

NICH. 

She calls him Oliver! 

NORAH 

If I had married all the men who called me Norah? 
Did she hurry up to him when you said he was here? 

NICH. 

I'm afraid not. 

NORAH 

Then she'll have him. 

{^JVrings her hands.] 
Oh, acushla ! Acushla ! 

NICH. 

Don't. It's harder on me. . . . Sh! They're com- 
ing down ! 

[Motions her kitchenwards.l 

23 



NORAH [Blubbering] 

But the children must be brought up CathoHcs ! 

[Exeunt she R., he C. Enter L. slowly and alone 
OLIVER, vaguely looking for something. He sees 
only the Sunday paper with his picture and disgust- 
edly tears it in two.] 

PEGGY [From stairs] 
OHver ! 

OLIVER [Dropping paper with a joyous cry] 
Peggy ! 

PEGGY [Appearing L., coldly] 
You forgot your portfolio. 
[Tenders it.] 

OLIVER [Frozen] 

Thank you. ... I was looking for it down here. 

PEGGY [Smiling tremulously] 

Wouldn't do to go Vv'est without your design. 

OLIVER 

Oh, hang my design I 
[Hurls it away.] 

PEGGY 

I guess they'll hang all the designs. 

OLIVER 

You're heartless. 
24 



PEGGY 

Oh, no, Oliver, I do admire your University. And 
by the time It's ivy-covered 

OLIVER 

I shall be grass-covered. 

PEGGY 

Laurel-covered, you mean. You are going to be 
famous. I am so glad. 

OLIVER 

You are spoiling all my success. 

PEGGY 

Exactly what I should do. We shouldn't get on to- 
gether, dear Oliver. 

OLIVER 

Because I haven't come back from the war with your 
reverence for Europe? 

PEGGY 

Because I can't feel your reverence for America. I 
can't sink Into this petty American domesticity. Oh, 
Oliver, can't you understand? 

OLIVER 

Of course I understand — It is the artist in you. But 
you could go on composing — I should be only too 
proud of my little singing-bird. 
25 



PEGGY 

It Isn't only the call of my music. 

OLIVER 

What else, then? 

PEGGY 

I don't know. Something strange, from afar — like a 
call to service — I can't settle down so — so finally. 

OLIVER 

But I can wait — years — If only there's an outlook — 
not a blank window. 

PEGGY 

That is not fair to you. No, you must go West un- 
trammelled. 

OLIVER 

That's impossible. 

[Picks up portfolio. Huskily] 
Good-bye then. 

PEGGY . 

Good-bye. 

[Desperately] 
You'll write to me from the University scaffolding! 

OLIVER [Eagerly] 
May I? 

26 



PEGGY 

Of course. 

{Holds out hand.] 
Aren't you going to shake hands? 

OLIVER [Throwing down portfolio to take her hand 

in both of his] 
Oh, Peggy, then you do care a little ! 

PEGGY 

You never asked me that. You only wanted to ab- 
sorb me. 

OLIVER 

You darling! 

[Their lips meet.] 

PEGGY 

How wonderful you are! ... It almost seems as 
if the rest were irrelevant — even music. 

OLIVER 

And I thought I was happy when I won the competi- 
tion! 

PEGGY 

I have never even thought I was happy. 

OLIVER 

Never happy? You? 
27 



PEGGY 

My mother died when I was a baby, and father has 
always been so busy prophesying. 

OLIVER 

My poor little girl! I must make up to her for 
everything. 

PEGGY 

Yes, for everything. 

[She opens her arms to him.] 
Oh, Oliver, if I should lose you now! 

OLIVER 

Why should we lose each other? I will speak to your 
father at once. 

PEGGY 

No, no! It is all too sacred! 

OLIVER 

But, dearest, I leave New York to-morrow. 

PEGGY [Clinging to him] 
So soon. Oh! 

[NICHOLAS heard deliberately humming in the 

doorway.] 

OLIVER 

Ah, here he comes ! 

[She retreats.] 
Don't run away! 



PEGGY 

I can't face even daddy — yet. . . . Besides, I must 

change my riding-skirt. A rivederla, carissimo. 

{Kisses her hands to him and runs of L. Enter 
NICHOLAS with e la' orate unconcern.] 

NICH. 

Well, young man. And how far did you get? 

OLIVER [Surprised] 
Eh? 

[Ecstatically] 
Oh, sir, Peggy 

NICH. 

Peggy? Didn't you read any of my MS.? 

OLIVER [Embarrassed] 

Oh, that! I — you see Peggy came up and we — we 

want to marry. 

NICH. 

What! 

OLIVER 

I hope you're not angry. 

NICH. 

I can't say I'm delighted to be robbed of her. 

OLIVER 

Then you consent! 

29 



NICH. 

You go as fast as your aeroplane. Sit down, sit down, 
young man, and let us talk. 

[They talk.] 
You realise that there are great differences between 
you. 

OLIVER 

Naturally. Peggy is an angel. 

NICH. 

That of course. But I had in mind such things as 
religion 

OLIVER 

After you've come back from the war, you don't take 
much stock in religion — religious differences, I mean. 

NICH. [Drily] 

Yes, religion does usually mean that. But there's 

race, too. Peggy's not American. 

OLIVER 

Gee! Is there any race that's not American? But I 

knew you were English-born. That's no difference. 

NICH. 

But we're not English. Moreover — I meant to carry 
the secret to my grave, but it is borne in on me as I 
speak to you that I ought to tell you this much — Peggy 
is not my daughter. 
30 



OLIVER 

Not your ? But she calls you daddy! 

NICH. 

She doesn't know. And she must never know. 

OLIVER [After a pause] 
I will keep your secret. 

NICH. 

It doesn't mean that she won't inherit my wealth. 

OLIVER 

Oh, sir, I'm not worrying about that. 

NICH. 

You mean you are worrying about her birth? 

OLIVER 

No, no. I thank God she was born at all. Why, even 
if she were nobody's daughter ! 

NICH. 

Would she were ! But she's somebody's daughter. 
That's the trouble. 

OLIVER 

Her father may claim her? 

NICH. 

Not he — he's safely dead. Still I can only consent to 

the marriage on one condition. 

31 



OLIVER 
I accept. 

NICH. 

But listen ! You must take Peggy out West with you. 

OLIVER 

What! To-morrow? 

NICH. 

Of course not, but as soon as possible. 

OLIVER 

Say, I told you I wasn't kicking. I guess I'd best put 
off my trip till she can come along. 

NICH. 

Good. And you must always live in America. 

OLIVER [Disconcerted] 

Oh! Never go to Europe you mean? But Peggy ! 



NICH. 

Yes, I know. I've been trying to explain to her that 
we've got to stay here and make God's own country a 
fit place for God to live in. But it'll be all right if 
you keep away from the Balkan parts of Europe — 
not that Europe isn't all Balkans nowadays, a pit of 
steel-spurred cocks each crowing on its own little 
dunghill. God! to think of all those millions of 
peaceful citizens turned into murderers as quails in 
32 



Turkestan are turned into fighting-cocks by tobacco 
smoke. 

OLIVER 

You can't do away with war. 

NICH. 

So the British once thought about cockfighting. Henry 
VIII made it a national institution and cockpits grew 
almost as thick as cinemas to-day. At Shrovetide 
school-children had to pay the masters cock-penny for 
a cock to pit against another school-cock. But now if 
you want to pit the main openly, you must go to the 
Philippines. 

OLIVER 

Do I gather Peggy was born in the Balkans? 

NICH. [Hesitating] 

Ahem! There or thereabouts. A mongrel State, 
Arabised Italian by lingo, with Catholics, Greek- 
Orthodox and Moslems always fighting one another or 
their neighbours. In the Second Crusade they all 
fought on the Moslem side under the Sultan of Ikon- 
ion, for it wasn't until the Armenians began assassinat- 
ing them that any accepted Christianity. In fact the 
Moslem are still the most numerous element, though 
the Christians combine to keep them under. Some 
twenty years ago a sanguine Chancellor arose who 
tried to modernise his people. But they murdered the 
Queen and blew up the Chancellery. 
33 C 



OLIVER 

Sounds worse than Mexico. 

NICH. 

A home for incurables. The Catholics ruled the roost, 
but if ever the Orthodox got top-dog they hanged 
Catholics and Jews. But the Catholics always got 
their own back and hanged Orthodox and Jews. 
Sometimes, of course, both had to combine and then 
the lamp-posts held Moslems and Jews! The only 
thing the three religions had in common except Jew- 
baiting was the hatred of a neighbour State, which a 
century ago had annexed a barren mountain-province, 
and their real God was their fifth-century filibuster, 
Alpastroom, whom they all expected to rise one day 
from his grave in Rome and win back the lost 
province. 

OLIVER [Smiling] 
Talk of Rip Van Winkle ! 

NICH. 

These lunatics took it seriously; there's a national pro- 
verb: 

"When Rome yields up our royal seed, 
Bosnavina to death shall bleed." 

{Starting up.] 
Oh, but I didn't mean to give away names. I'm a for- 
getful old fool. And that coffee, too ! Must be Iced 
by now. Never mind. Let's drink confusion to the 
cockpit. 

[Goes to table and pours coffee for Oliver.] 

34 



OLIVER 

Fd rather drink to Peggy's present country. 
[Takes cup.] 

NICH. 

Same thing. 

[Pours for himself.] 
It's the Melting Pot versus the Cockpit. 

[Holds up cup.] 
To America ! 

OLIVER 

To America ! 

[They clink cups. An unusually imperious rat-tat- 
tat. They pause in their drinking.] 

NICH. 

Who can that be? 

[norah appears door C. with a frightened face.] 

NORAH 

It's soldiers! 

NICH. 

Soldiers! 

NORAH 

Two autos-full. And General Roxo — him that used 
to be Captain Roxo. 

NICH. [Alarmed] 
He recognised you? 

35 



NORAH 

No, I recognised him, 

NICH. 

Tell him I'm engaged — I can see nobody. 

OLIVER 

But I can make myself scarce. 

NICH. 

Nonsense ! Drink your coffee. Leave us, Norah. 

NORAH 

Si, Signor — Mr. Stone. 

[Exit NORAH.] 

NICH. [Sipping his coffee] 

Strange how Europe will keep breaking in! 

OLIVER 

Is it that Valdanian headliner? 

NICH. 

Yes, the fire-eater our fool press has been booming. 
[Re-enter NORAH.] 

NORAH 

The General's Secretary complains he 'phoned you 
and you said you'd be home. 

NICH. 

Ah! I thought he said general secretary. Tell him I 
was cut off — I'm sorry but I've business with a friend. 
36 



OLIVER 

But, Mr. Stone, if I'm to cancel my journey to-mor- 
row I must get busy too. Let me do my wiring while 
you work off your visitors. May I leave my portfolio ? 
[Without waiting for a reply he opens the door, 
revealing in the hall-way a group of officers in 
peaked caps, cloaks and swords, headed by gen- 
eral ROXO, a one-armed veteran, glittering under a 
loose cloak with stars and medals, and his secre- 
tary, the MARQUIS FIUMA, a handsome man in the 
^. thirties, carrying a wallet of papers. Oliver hows 
to them as he passes and ROXO seizes the oppor- 
tunity to advance.^ 

ROXO 

Pardon my persistence, Mr. Stone, we had meant to 
wait upon you later in the week, but in the midst of an 
official reception at our legation, a cable reached me 
necessitating instant arrangements for returning to 
Valdania by this afternoon's boat. Our only chance 
was to take you on our way back to the hotel. And I 
feel sure that as a good patriot 

NICH. 

So good a patriot, General — er 



ROXO 
Roxo. 

NICH. 

Roxo, that you find me toasting America. 

Z1 



ROXO 

Ah, I thought from your name you'd been naturalised. 

NICH. 

Fifteen years ago. 

ROXO [Advancing^ 

Fifteen centuries cannot extinguish the flame of the 

fatherland. Even Valdanians born in the States 

NICH. [Coldly] 

May I ask you to come at once to the point of your 

visit? 

ROXO 

The Marquis Fiuma can put it more briefly. 

[The MARQUIS bows and NICHOLAS hows hack. 
The SUITE drifts in hehind the MARQUIS. But 
NICHOLAS, Standing as on guard, does not invite 
anybody to sit down. FIUMA lays down his 
wallet.] 

FIUMA 

As you doubtless know, Mr, Stone, the death of Tito 
the Fifth two years ago left us without an heir to the 
throne, and Polish and Bolshevist adventurers prof- 
ited by the consequent anarchy to overrun Valdania. 
Thanks to our heroic General Roxo 

{The GENERAL makes a deprecatory gesture] 
all were beaten off, and Valdania took advantage of 
38 



the war-unity to turn herself into a constitutional 
country, clipping the wings of my class 

[Smiling] 
and replacing the Chancellor and the Council by a 
Parliament. 

NICH. 

Really? I have not followed your politics. Our pa- 
pers gave you no space till his excellency arrived. So, 
General, you have made Valdania safe for democracy! 

FIUMA 

Not so safe as money could make It. We are In woful 
need of the sinews of . . . peace. And the Gov- 
ernment naturally thought that a mission — headed by 
our national hero — to our enriched emigres 

NICH. [Coldly] 

Yes, I know America Is the milch-cow of Europe. But 

why come to me? 

FIUMA 

Seven years ago, we are told, you subscribed fifty 
thousand dollars to our famine fund. 

NICH. 

Only what other Americans did. To feed famished 
foreigners Is one thing — to Interfere in their politics 
another. My blood Is English. 
[Rings.] 

39 



ROXO 

I am sorry. I am very sorry. We thought you were 
a Valdanian. This is truly an intrusion. My love 
for Valdania must be my excuse. . . . 

[To NORAii, who has answered the ring, from 

door C, where she has been waiting^ 
Haven't I seen your face before? 

NORAH 

Sure, you haven't seen it behind. 

ROXO 

Come, amici, we shall have a little longer for packing. 
God keep you, sir. 

NICH. 

Thank you! A pleasant journey! 

[fFith a sudden impulse] 
But why should I stoop to mislead you? Only my 
mother was English, my father was a Valdanian. 

ROXO AND SUITE 
Ah! 

[They turn back.] 

NICH. 

But my interest in Valdania has long been submerged 
in a bigger ideal. 

ROXO 

There is nothing bigger than Valdania. 
40 



FIUMA AND SUITE 
Bravo ! 

ROXO 

And she will not be denied, you see, my brother. 

NICH. 

She must be denied, she shall be denied. I am less 
brother to you than to the young American who has 
just left me. What is this mysterious tyranny of race, 
and birth? It is true I am a son of Valdania. But 1 
have left her behind me as a barbarian camp. 

FIUMA [Half drawing szvord^ 
Si g nor! 

NICH. 

You came for dollars, you shall have truths. My 
mother's English property has enabled me to help 
many causes. But for Valdania not a cent. 
[Angry murmurs.^ 

ROXO 

You would forsake your own flesh and blood ! 

NICH. 

You speak of my flesh and blood, I speak of my soul. 
In the Middle Ages every human soul was considered 
so important that God and Devil were at wrestle for 
it. To-day we are treated as mere dogs of a pack. 
But I am man, not animal, and I assert my spiritual 
freedom, 

41 



FIUMA 

And are you not free to help Valdania? 

NICH. 

Ah, if you had come to me with a petition. But you 
come with a claim, a demand. Valdania is no more 
to me than the rest of the cockpit you call Europe. 
Does she need food? I will help her again. 

ROXO 

Thank you — the hand I lost for my country is not held 
out for alms. Valdania calls on her sons to safeguard 
her renaissance. The Moslem extremists, unconcili- 
ated by the Constitution, still demand dominance, and 
under their rebel Mahdi, Marrobio 

NICH. 

Ah, then it is not all such plain sailing. And I don't 
suppose even your Catholics and Greek-Orthodox 
have quite buried the hatchet. And you come to ask 
America to finance your petty wrangles! 

ROXO 

No, to end them by strengthening the new Govern- 
ment. Otherwise Bosnavina, to say nothing of Italy 
or Greece, may seize the opportunity to absorb us. 
Had there been an heir to the throne, the whole peo- 
ple, weary of slaughter, would have rallied round the 
crown. But alas ! with every scion of our royal house 

scrupulously assassinated 

42 



NICH. 

And It is into this welter of blood you ask me to dip 
my hands ! No, General, better for humanity if Italy 
or Greece does swallow you up — or even Bosnavina ! 

ROXO 

Signor Stone ! 

FIUMA 

Traitor! 

SUITE 

Tradittore! 

[The swords of the suite flash out.] 

NICH. 

I am an American — and if you wish to get home un- 
electrocuted 

ROXO 

Put up your swords, Signori. Remember this man's 
blood is not wholly Valdanlan. 

FIUMA 

God be thanked. 

[He and the others sheathe their swords.] 

ROXO 

Ay, and may He forgive you, Signor, the wrong you 
do your father's memory. Why, when Poland men- 
aced our freedom, your docks here in New York were 
blocked by Valdanians struggling to board the boats 
43 



and die for the fatherland. Thousands were pros- 
perous — they had wives and famihes — but Httle Val- 
dania called, and her sons answered "Here!" 

NICH. 

As I answer — "Here!" Here is my duty — to 
America. To help Valdania would be to roll the 
world backward. 

ROXO 

A pretty excuse for disloyalty and meanness. Come, 
amici. Ah, Signor Stone, in our little Valdanian hos- 
pital in Brooklyn, a paralysed old pauper of eighty, 
when he heard who I was, sat up, and crying "Viva 
Valdania," lifted his poor withered hand that I might 
pull off his silver ring — his one little treasure — for the 
holy cause. You may imagine if I kissed him on both 
cheeks and if we wept together. Addio, Signor. You 
set me pining more than ever for the Piazza da Pietra. 

NICH. 

The Piazza da Pietra? 

ROXO 

Ah, I suppose you knew it as the Piazza Grande. But 
we have re-named it in honour of our great murdered 
Chancellor. 

NICH. 

In honour of — ha ! ha ! ha ! ha ! ha I 

44 



ROXO 

Signor ! I will not hear our immortal martyr laughed 
at. 

NICH. 

Like Figaro, I hasten to laugh lest I should weep. 
Ah, General, if only you had thought me such a great 
Chancellor when I was alive ! 

ROXO 
Eh? 

NICH. 

I am the immortal Da Pietra. 
[Sensation.] 

ROXO 

You Niccolo da Pietra ! The jest is ill-timed. 

NICH. 

It would be, if you hadn't to catch your boat. Good- 
bye ! 

ROXO 

Is it possible? 

NICH. 

Pietra only means Stone ! 

ROXO 

Then you were not blown to pieces and burnt with 
the Chancellery? 

45 



NICH. 

To the best of my belief. 

ROXO 

But — but I attended your funeral service. 

NICH. 

I read of It with pleasure. 

ROXO 

Then — then you sneaked off to America, you ! leaving 

us to struggle alone these twenty years ! 

NICH. 

And had I not reason? As I told you just now, I 
have not followed your struggles — I had wider hori- 
zons. But when / struggled to give Valdania the Con- 
stitution you now say has been achieved, did you not 
fight against me as desperately, If not as dishonestly 
as the Cazotti journal? 

ROXO 

I thought you meant to question the King's divine 
right. 

NICH. 

Tito himself understood me better. Despite his abom- 
inable cruelty to the young Queen, he had the intelli- 
gence to perceive that If our Internal chaos continued, 
Bosnavlna would bite off another province. 

46 



ROXO 

It is what I have since learned to understand. 

NICH. 

Ha ! By granting equal rights even to the Moslem, I 
aimed to create a common Valdanian citizenship. By 
safeguarding the Jews, I encouraged the upbuilding of 
our industries. I won over King Tito to constitution- 
alism. The country began to take its place in the new 
Europe. You know my reward. I could have for- 
given the reactionaries their attempt to murder me. 
But that they should have murdered the young 
Queen ! 

ROXO 

They said it was through her that you had won over 
the King. 

NICH. 

Yes, I know, and that I was her lover. 

ROXO 

Were you not? 

NICH. 

The Queen was as pure as our mountain-snows. I 
had an immense pity for her In her cold, high loneli- 
ness. Poor Margherlta ! If ever sovereign wore a 
crown of thorns 

ROXO 

Then why did you not remain to revenge her? 

47 



NICH. 

Revenge? The righteousness of fools. The eternal 
whirligig of blood. No, I preferred to shed only ink 
— to return to my early love, literature. 
[Goes to desk, takes cheque-book.] 
But I have liberated my mind at the expense of your 
precious time. You shall have a cheque, after all. It 
was worth it. 

ROXO 

No, Da Pietra. . . . Not your money now. It is 
you we want. 

NICH. 

Me? 

ROXO 

Come back with us ! 

[Excited murmurs of approval among the suite.] 

NICH. 

Back? With the sentiments you have just heard? 

ROXO 

Your head spoke but not your heart. What is Amer- 
ica to you or you to America? It is a childish people, 
with its mouth always full of candies and sweet senti- 
ments. Come, Niccolo da Pietra. We will build up 
the great Valdania of your early dream. Sail with us ! 

FIUMA AND SUITE 

Bravo! 
48 



ROXO 

You see ! The news will spread like wild-fire. It 
will be a trumpet-call. 

NICH. 

General Roxo, the trumpet of Resurrection Day could 

not blow me back to Valdania ! 

ROXO 

Then you will let Cazotti rule? 

NICH. 

Cazotti? 

ROXO 

You did not know Cazotti was Prime Minister? 

NICH. 

Cazotti ? Not the blackguardly journalist who fought 
against all my reforms? 

ROXO . 

The same. He has now carried them all. 

NICH. 

But It was his journal that provoked my assassination! 

ROXO 

I shouldn't be surprised if he threw the bombs. 

FIUMA 

You are Imprudent, my General. Cazotti has his spies 

everywhere. Forget this, SIgnori. 

49 D 



NICH. 

I can believe anything of Cazotti. And you Catholics 
work under this upstart Greek Church adventurer! 

ROXO 

For Valdania's sake. 

FIUMA 

He Is indispensable. With his own newspapers, his 
own cinemas, with a millionaire Jew, Baron Gripstein, 
to back him, with the bulk of the Moslems won over 
by equal suffrage, with his own Greek Church party 
solidly behind him, we Catholics had only the choice 
of joining his coalition or being swamped. 

ROXO 

But the Premiership is not enough for him. What he 
covets is the crown. 

NICH. 

Nonsense ! A pretty Napoleon ! 

ROXO 

There is no nonsense about it. It is the cable warn- 
ing me of it that drives me home. Since King Tito's 
death we have made shift with a Regent. 

NICH. 
Who? 

ROXO 

The Duke D'Azollo. 

50 



NICH. 

That profligate dilettante, divided between his Old 
Masters and his young mistresses? 

ROXO 

Precisely. A mere warming-pan for Cazottl. You 
see, to get a suitable Prince is not easy. 

NICH. \^SmUing grimly^ 

No, indeed, with the German factory under a ban ! 

ROXO 

And if we took a Prince from a neighbour State, we 
should come hopelessly under its influence. As for the 
northern powers, none sees any prestige in association 
with our bankrupt finances, and the few possible 
Princes shrink from repeating the fate of the Queen. 

NICH. 

I don't wonder. 

ROXO 

Moreover, by the Constitution our sovereign must be 
Catholic — we are still the ruling sect, you see. 

NICH. 

Then that rules out Cazotti ! 

ROXO 

No, alas! Cazotti will Vert! 

51 



NICH. 

Ha! Ha! Ha! 

ROXO 

It is no laughing matter. In the difficulty of finding a 
Prince, Cazotti's papers and cinemas will propose and 
picture Cazotti, then Parliament will offer him the 
crown. Twice he will refuse, but the third time — ah, 
Niccolo da Pietra, if only in the assassination of the 
Queen, the infant had been spared! There would 
have been to-day a native sovereign for the nation 
to rally round-; 

NICH. [TVith sudden harshness'] 
Let Cazotti be rallied round and murdered! I'm 
afraid I mustn't keep you any longer. 
[Holds out hands.] 

ROXO [Not taking it] 

Then you persist in your living death! 

FIUMA 

You will let Cazotti king it — the jackal roaring while 
the lion blinks ! 

NICH. [Using his rejected hand to pick up fiuma's 

wallet] 
Your papers! 

ROXO 

Come, Signorl. Valdania shall hear of this recreant 

Yankee — his name shall stink in history. 

52 



NICH. 

It will be better policy, General, to keep it in good 
odour. 

ROXO [ Turning] 

No ! By the tombs of our fathers which you have 

deserted 

NICH. 

But I haven't — I'm lying in one of them. Bombed, 
incinerated, pedestalled on your Piazza, I'm a bigger 
national asset to you dead than alive. Think it over 
on the boat. 

[Enter PEGGY unmarked L., in her changed 

toilette. 'I 

ROXO [Drawing sword with his left hand] 
And if I ensured our national asset ! 

PEGGY [Alarmed] 

Daddy! 

[All turn towards the new-comer. ROXO's sword 
droops and slides into its scabbard, then his body 
droops, and he falls on one knee, as if hypnotised.] 

ROXO [In a dazed, awed whisper] 
The Queen ! 

NICH. 

Are you mad, General? 

53 



ROXO [Unheeding] 
She alive, too ! 

[fFith a sob] 
O God of Valdania! 

NICH. 

But this is my daughter ! My daughter, Peggy ! 

ROXO [Rising slowly, passing his hand across his 

forehead] 
Your daughter? And yet you say you were not the 
Queen's . . . ? 

NICH. 

Silence! Not before the child. Go back to your 
room, Peggy. These men are crazy specimens from 
the cockpit you hanker after. Why don't you go? 

V 

PEGGY 

Ah! 

[Rushes to the telephone.] 

ROXO 

Yes, ring up the police! And they shall arrest the 
gentleman you call father as a kidnapper. 

NICH. 

What are you talking about? 

ROXO 

None of your innocence. I see it all now, Fiuma. 

54 



The little Princess was no more blown up than he 
was. He took advantage of the wreck of the Palace 
to steal the nation's hope. 

FIUMA AND SUITE 

Traitor! Tradittore! 

ROXO 

But the God of Valdania has not forgotten us. lie 
has saved our royal seed for this fateful hour. It is 
our Queen, amid, our dear Margherita! 

FIUMA AND SUITE [Saluting her with flashing/ 

swords] 
Viva la Regina! Viva Margherita! 

[PEGGY Stands dazed, looking from them to her 

father.] 

ROXO 

Ah, Your Majesty, this is a great day for Valdania! 

PEGGY 

Valdania! Where exactly is Valdania? 

NICH. 

Valdania, my child, is the very heart of the cockpit I 
rescued you from, and to which these race-bigots 
would drag you back. 

PEGGY 

By what right? 

55 



ROXO 

By divine right, Madam. Are you not our Queen? 

PEGGY 

I their Queen, daddy? 

NICH. 

In a way, I suppose. 

PEGGY 

A Queen? I? 

NICH. 

Alas! 

PEGGY 

I don't understand. 

NICH. 

You are the last scion of the royal house of Valdania. 

PEGGY 

But then, daddy, you must be King, not I Queen. 

NICH. 

No, Peggy. I love you — I have watched over you — > 
as a father. But that is all my claim 

PEGGY 

You are not my father? Oh, this is some dream . . . 

56 



But here is my music. . . . Here are the cups I 
scolded Norah about . . . here is Oliver's portfolio 



ROXO 

It is no dream, Your Majesty. ... To revenge 
himself on Valdania, this man has stolen and hidden 
you . . . 

NICH. 

My child will not believe that. 

PEGGY [Fretfully'] 

But what am I to believe, daddy? Why did ? 

NICH. 

I will explain to you, carissima, when these gentle- 
men are gone. 

ROXO 

Gone? Do you suppose we will go without our 
Queen? 

NICH. 

Since you have gone without her so long! 

FIUMA 

Be serious, Signor. We demand our Queen, and this 
very instant. 

NICH. 

I am sorry. She remains here — under the American 
flag. 

57 



ROXO 

She goes with us — under the Valdanian flag. 

NICH. 

But I am naturalised. 

ROXO 

What of it? She is not your daughter. 

NICH. [Staggering] 

My God ! . . . All the same she is no criminal. 

FIUMA 

Criminal? Her Majesty? 

NICH. 

Then you cannot extradite her. 

ALL THE OTHERS [Taken aback] 
Ah! 

NICH. [Pursuing his advantage] 

And she is of age, thank God. You can't take her 

against her will. 

ROXO 

And do you suppose you could keep her against ours? 
That any place on earth could be safe from our loyal 
devotion? Happily, we know her royal will. Our 
sovereigns have never yet abandoned their people. 
And never did Valdania need a sovereign so urgently. 
58 



PEGGY 

The country needs me, you say? 

ROXO 

As it needs rain in drought and sun in winter. You 
alone can give it unity and happiness. 

PEGGY 

Is it so wretched, then? 

ROXO 

Madam, it is a beautiful country — our snow-peaks, our 
vineyards 

PEGGY 

Ah, and the blue lake ! Oh, daddy, and you pretended 
it was all my fancy. . . . But it is a Paradise. 

ROXO 

Disunity has made it an Inferno. But when Your 
Majesty comes back ! 

NICH. 

Into that lunatic asylum? Never! 

PEGGY 

But, daddy, if the patients need my ? 

NICH. 

You do not understand 

59 



ROXO 

Silence, Signor da Pietra ! How dare you interrupt 
Her Majesty? 

FIUMA [Raising sword] 
Insolente! 

PEGGY [Pitifully] 

Signor da Pietra? Are you not even Nicholas Stone? 
Oh, why are you so wrapped up in mysteries? Why 
all this falsehood? 

NICH. 

I could bite my tongue out for telling the truth. What 
devil drove you here, Roxo, to tempt me into it? 

PEGGY 

But what is the truth? Who are you? . . . Why 
don't you explain? 

NICH. 

If, after all these years, Peggy, you cannot trust 



me- 



PEGGY 

How can I trust you when you have torn me blind- 
folded from my own world — when you have let grow 
up in me — ah, but I knew inwardly I was called away 
from happiness I 

[Covers her eyes.] 
60 



NICH. 

God! Why is life so complex? Believe me, carissivia, 
I meant it all for the best. 

PEGGY 

But you took me from my country, my people, my 
duty! 

ROXO 

And your throne, Madam. 

PEGGY [Ignoring him] 

And my mother ! How often I asked you about her, 
but you turned the question aside, so that I feared to 
ask it, I grew afraid she was a bad woman, of whom 
not even Norah would speak. And the gentle voice I 
remembered, the soft wet cheek pressed to mine, they 
were the Madonna's, I thought, pitying the lonely 
little girl. Ah, how often I cried in the night. All 
the other girls had mothers — and I — even the memory 
of one was denied. 
[Sobs.] 

NICH. 

Oh, Peggy; if only I had realised! But I suppose a 
man can't. . . . Don't cry, carissima. Your mother 
was a Madonna. And in the land you remember as a 
Paradise, they murdered her. 

PEGGY 

Oh, my poor mother ! My poor mother ! 
6i 



NICH. 

You see how knowledge hurts. I saved you that suf- 
fering at least. 

PEGGY 

Ah no! This is a beautiful suffering. 

[Comes closer.] 
Oh, daddy, and it was to save me you took me away? 

NICH. 

Ah, you have understood ! I knew you would ! It 
was Norah that brought you to me by the subway to 
the Chancellery — when the left wing of the Palace 
blew up. There was a fashion for English-speaking 
nurses, and Norah had been chosen as a Catholic. I 
was Chancellor then, and I felt my house was no 
safe place for you; but I had hardly gone out with 
you and Norah when the Chancellery blew up too, 
with all the witnesses of your visit. It was really you 
that saved me, rather than the reverse. 

PEGGY 

I'm so glad, daddy. I'm so glad. 

NICH. 

For days, while the reactionaries held Scaletta, we 
lay hid in a mountain cave, you and I, while Norah, 
being unknown to the crowd, went foraging for us 
— fortunately there was plenty of money in my pocket, 

and she being so pretty 

62 



PEGGY 

Norah pretty? 

NICH. 

Ah, it was more than twenty years ago. Anyhow she 
managed everybody and everything, even got passages 
first in a gipsy-caravan, then on a timber-raft 

PEGGY 

Ah, the raft! 

NICH. 

We drifted with the timber-men to Bosnavina, thence 
got by way of Rolmenia to Genoa, where, finding an 
emigrant ship, I thought it simplest to wait in New 
York till Valdania settled down. Travelling as Mr, 
Stone, the English widower, with his orphaned daugh- 
ter and her Irish nurse 

ROXO 

I thought I recognised her. 

PEGGY [Stamping her foot] 
You are not to interrupt — nobody must interrupt. 
[roxo withers.] 

NICH. 

When I got on board I was breathing fire and revenge 
— oh, my sentiments would have delighted General 
Roxo. I meant to come back, to counterplot — but 
that fortnight on the Atlantic 

63 



ROXO [Exhibiting a wrist-watch] 

We shall lose the boat — I beg Your Majesty's pardon! 

NICH. 

But that fortnight on the Atlantic — the first breathing- 
space In my political career — the nights on the lonely 
sea under the silent stars — oh, it was like a religious 
revelation ! Why go back — why drag you back to 
that cockpit of races and religions ? 

PEGGY 

Yes, daddy, yes. 

[She holds out her hands to him.] 

NICH. [Taking them] 

You see, General, she chooses Columbia. 

ROXO [Solemnly] 

Her Majesty has no choice — she is chosen. 

PEGGY 
By whom? 

ROXO 

By God. Madam, If this man has left you a Cath- 
olic 

NICH. [Hotly] 

Do you suppose I would turn her from her mother's 

religion? 

64 



ROXO 

And do you suppose her mother would have had her 

abandon her duty? 

[PEGGY winces. Her hands drop from NICHO- 
LAS'S.] 

NICH. 

Duty to what? To a hornets' nest, to a den of cocka- 
trices, to a Kingdom where she must cross the ambi- 
tions of a desperado, who combines the modern demo- 
crat with the mediaeval condottiere? 

PEGGY 

Is it the danger, daddy, that you fear for me? 

NICH. 

Not merely the danger. But they are deceiving you 
— you can bring the country no peace — the country 
will only rob you of yours — you will have terrible 
shocks. 

PEGGY 

Didn't you say a shock is God's way of telling us to 
put our country straight? 

NICH. 

But you can't straighten a shambles. Shall you be 
murdered too? 

PEGGY 

If it is God's will ! Have I the right to shrink 

from the task? 

65 E 



ROXO 

The royal blood has spoken. 

FIUMA AND SUITE 

Brava! Bravissima! 

NICH. 

You would leave me, Peggy? 

PEGGY 

Of course not, we will go together. 

NICH. 

Impossible ! You don't understand the etiquette of a 
Court. It would no longer be the old relation. I 
couldn't sit without your command, or dine side by side 
with you. I should have to bow and smirk, call you 
Majesty, never contradict you 

PEGGY 

Oh, no! 

NICH. 

Oh, yes! 

l^Growh from FIUMA and the suite.] 
You hear! But it must not be, Peggy. You have 
wealth, beauty, youth — a brave young lover. 

[ PEGGY winces again.] 
What more can you ask of God? 

PEGGY [Slowly, struggling with herself] 

Is it not what God asks of us? 

66 



NICH. 

spare her, General, for her mother's sake ! Have 
pity. 

ROXO 

There is no place for pity in high politics. But why 
speak of pity? She will have the throne, the homage 
of millions. The eyes of Europe will be 

NICH. 

But she is so young. Ah, let me go in her stead. 

ROXO 

You? Nicholas the First! Ha! Ha! Ha! 

NICH. 

You know what I mean — I can crush Cazotti, con- 
ciliate Marrobio, unify Valdania. It is what you just 
asked. 

ROXO 

1 did not know then we had a bigger card to play — 
the Queen. We can't accept a substitute. 

NICH. 

Then I must go with her? 

ROXO 

And lessen her prestige? No, no, we can afford no 
rival sensation. Her Majesty must arrive alone. 

67 



PEGGY [Pitifully] 
Alone? 

NICH. 

Alone? Do you suppose I would let her go without 

mef 

ROXO 

Where would you get a passport from? 

NICH. 

From Washington, of course. 

ROXO 

And do you suppose our Consul would viser it? 

PEGGY 

/ will viser it. 

ROXO [Bowing] 

Your Majesty's prerogatives do not override the law 

of Valdania — and that forbids entry to criminal aliens. 

NICH. 

Criminal alien? I? 

ROXO 

And is a kidnapper not a criminal, or an American 
not an alien? 

NICH. 

I will appeal to the American Government. 
68 



ROXO 

You? Who are naturalized under a false name? 
Ha! Ra! Ha! . . .Madam! 

[Bows] 
Excuse my left arm. 

PEGGY [Not taking it] 

I can't go without my — without Signor da Pietra. 

ROXO 

Your Majesty heard the State reason that makes his 
resurrection impossible 

FIUMA [Catching peggy's shrinking eye] 
For the moment at least. 

PEGGY [Relieved, with a grateful look to fiuma] 
Ah, for the moment. 

NICH. 

You expect me to surrender a girl to a band of sol- 
diery? 

ROXO 

Is a strange man's house a proper place for her? 

[NICHOLAS winces.] 
My wife, Your Majesty, is waiting in a car below. 
You shall appoint her Dame of Honour. It will be 
the first expression of your royal will. Ah, Signor da 
Pietra, you know the game is up. You know you can- 
not keep a Sovereign from her State ! Madam ! 

[Offers arm again.] 
69 



PEGGY [Pi li fully] 

I — I must decide at once? 

ROXO [Extending his wrist-watch] 
Boats do not wait. 

PEGGY [Wildly] 

But my trunks — my manuscripts 



ROXO 

Can come by the next boat — with Signorina Salvador. 

[Turning to one of the suite.] 
Captain Salvador, your sister must remain behind. 
We shall need her cabin and passport, 
[The CAPTAIN hows.] 

She will provide the little Your Majesty will need for 
the voyage — for, of course, you must remain in your 
cabin. 

PEGGY [Dazedly] 

But — but — I have no Court gowns. 

ROXO 

I will cable the Duchess D'Azollo to meet us In Paris. 
She will make an excellent Mistress of the Robes. 

PEGGY 

But it is all so sudden. 

ROXO 

History Is sudden. Suppose CazottI proclaims him- 
self King? What a work to undo It! 
70 



PEGGY 

But Teresa — my friends — I must say good-bye 

ROXO 

No, no, they would spread the news before we've 
settled our story. 

PEGGY 

Settled your story? 

ROXO 

We can't expose your kidnapper — un-name his Piazza. 
Besides Cazotti would proclaim himself immediately. 
Not a whisper, Signori, till we are safe in Scaletta. 
Come, Madam ! 

[PEGGY makes a hesitant movement doorward. A 

rat-tat is heard at the street door.] 

NICH. 

Ah, Oliver at last, thank God! 

PEGGY [Frenziedly] 

No, no ! I dare not see him — don't let him come ! 

NICH. 

But you must see him ! You shall ! 

PEGGY 

Do you wish me to hate you? Haven't you made me 

suffer enough? 

71 



\_Wincing, NICHOLAS goes silently to door C. and 
opens it, holding the handle and speaking into the 
hall-way. 'I 

NICH. 

Tell him that my visitors are still here, that I shall 
expect him to dinner. 

NORAH 

Si, Signor. 

[He lets the door close. There is a tense moment 
in which the street door is heard opening, and then 
a muttered dialogue. Then the door C. opens and 
NORAh's head is thrust in.] 

He wants his portfolio. 

[PEGGY rushes to get it, clasps it to her breast, then 
slowly parts with it to norah, behind whom the 
door closes. Another tense silence till the bang of 
the street-door is heard.] 

PEGGY [Frenziedly] 

But you'll explain to him, daddy — you'll tell him that 

there are greater things than happiness. 

NICH. [Icily'] 

I will represent to him Your Majesty's point of view. 

PEGGY [Breaking down] 

Oh, daddy. Don't talk to me like that ! 

NICH. 

Carissima! 
72 



[She falls into his arms and dings to him wildly. 
Roxo and his suite stand in silent dismay. Roxo 
frantically shows his wrist-watch to riUMA. JVith a 
sudden inspiration the MARQUIS dashes to the piano 
and starts the wild, barbaric national anthem, 
which PEGGY unconsciously played earlier. ROXO 
and his suite stand at the salute. As the first notes 
break out a strange thrill passes visibly through the 
girl, even Da Pietra trembles, and as it goes on, 
she gradually and unconsciously detaches herself 
from him, and listens spellbound. As it reaches its 
close, the Valdanians take up the words in fiery 
emotion.^ 

Dio di Valdania, 

Salva la patria, 

Serva la gloria 

Del suo monarca, 

Del suo popolof 

Viva la Valdania! 
The song gets more and more frenzied. At its 
climax, in the intoxication of emotion, general 
ROXO again offers his arm, and this time PEGGY, 
hypnotised, takes it — the suite, now standing in a 
double row, lift their swords with a flash and clash 
them together into an arch, under which the QUEEN 
and ROXO pass out.] 

THE SUITE 

Viva la reginaf Viva Margherita! Viva Margherita! 
NICHOLAS stands like a granite image of despair.] 

[Curtain.] 

73 



Act 11 

The throne-room in the old San Marco Palace at Sca- 
letta. It is a vast oblong apartment furnished only 
with heavy old chairs in embroidered Spanish 
leather against the rear wall. The throne, ornate 
and gilded, stands on a dais to the left under a pur- 
ple canopy, with its hack to the wall. Both chair 
and canopy are blazoned with the arms of Val-, 
dania, a serpent encircling an eagle, a crown is 
sculptured above the chair, and over it on the wall 
hangs a great old-fashioned sword and buckler, re- 
puted to be Alpastroom's. The floor is mosaic, the 
rear wall barbaric with battle frescoes ("Alpas- 
troom falling at Rome," etc.), above which hang 
captured flags. In the centre is a great hearth, 
now fireless. There are busts of kings or stone 
figures in niches, and here and there, on narrow 
oak tables by wall, candlesticks with wax candles. 
A worn stone step on either side of the rear wall 
mounts to a balconied casement of coloured glass; 
that on the right picturing the Madonna and Child, 
the other full of heraldic blazons of the old Val- 
danian provinces. The exit to the right is marked 
by two marble pillars, while rich Oriental hangings 
to the left denote the entrance to the more private 
parts of the Palace. Near the right casement is 
ranged a file of guards under a corporal with fixed 
bayonets. They are dressed in kilts with quaint 
feathered caps, and from their voluminous and bril- 
liantly coloured silken sashes hang scimitars and 

75 



yataghans. The casement behind is open out- 
wards, showing the stone balcony and the far-off 
shimmering lake and snow-peaks, but not the Pi- 
azza da Pietra, which though immediately with- 
out is too far below to be visible. Its existence an- 
nounces itself, however, as the curtain rises, by the 
chaotic buzz and laughter of a great holiday crowd, 
and the festal anirnation is accentuated by the joy- 
ous carilloning of bells and the stamping and 
trampling of police-horses. Colonel, the MARQUIS 
FIUMA, now Governor of the Palace, in a new mili- 
tary uniform, blazing with decorations, is writing 
in a note-book.'] 

VOICES FROM BELOW [Dominant over the din 

and bells] 
Order of Procession, Official! 
Portrait of Queen Margherita — One Lira ! 
Only Two Soldi — Postcards of the Convent ! 
Keep back please, keep your line ! 

l^Noise of horses wheeling and backing. Some 

shrieks.] 
Holy Virgin! Mind my baby! 

The Convent at Rome where Her Majesty was edu- 
cated — Only Two Soldi ! 

FIUMA 

Close the window — I cannot think! 

[corporal vanni obeys; noises grow subdued, the 
high-pitched bells give the dofninant festal note. 
The MARQUIS writes silently. Enter excitedly 

76 



GENERAL ROXO, noiv military Governor of Scalelta, 
booted and spurred, in full gala costume, hut zvith 
a black band on his only arm. The GUARDS salute, 
he acknowledges the salute mechanically, hardly 
seeming to see /7.] 

ROXO 

How many men have you guarding the Queen's 
apartments? 

FIUMA 

Nine, excellency. 

ROXO 

Double them ! Marrobio has been seen near the 
Chamber of Deputies. 

FIUMA 

The Mahdi ? He has ventured down from his moun- 
tains? 

ROXO 

The Moslem dog is desperate. The Coronation am- 
nesty robbed him of nearly all his followers. 

FIUMA 

But why didn't you order his arrest? 

ROXO 

In such a crowd! There'd be a panic — innocent peo- 
ple trampled on, while he perhaps got away. Ah, the 
rogue knows there's safety in numbers. But Captain 

77 



Molp has closed all the city gates — we've cut off his 
retreat. 

FIUMA 

Better have cut off his advance. But I should have 
thought the danger-zone is Parliament, especially 
while the Queen stands reading her speech. He can't 
get in here. 

ROXO 

Marrobio is a man of genius. And profiting by his 
ancient acquaintance with the Palace, he may even get 
into the Queen's room. And it would scarcely be an 
auspicious inauguration of your new Palace duties, my 
dear Colonel, if 

FIUMA 

Enough, excellency. And thanks for the warning! 
[Hurried exit through the hangings L.] 

ROXO 

Corporal Vanni ! Your salute just now lacked snap. 
Be careful It is more precise for Her Majesty — why 
that blackguard has never pipe-clayed his belt! Let 
him have a day in the cells — to-morrow! 

VANNI 

Yes, my General! 

ROXO 

And go back to the ranks yourself. 

78 



VANNI 

Yes, my General ! 

[roxo hurries out betzveen the pillars. The GUARDS 
have scarcely time to salute. After an instant the 
men begin to titter at the CORPORAL.] 

VANNI 

Silence, pigs ! I am still swineherd to-day. 

[They grow rigid. A pause.'] 
Say, comrades, if any of you would like to buy those 
brooches with the Queen's picture, come to me. My 
brother-in-law makes 'em. 

[guards relax] 
The Jew hawkers are all profiteers — do you know 
what they pay for the picture postcards of the Con- 
vent where our Margherita was hidden away all these 
years? . . . Not a single soldo . . . 

[A noise in the corridor.] 
Attention ! 

[guards rigid.] 
Ah, false alarm. 

[guards relax.] 
As I was saying, my brother-in-law can afford to let 
me have the brooches cheap because, though this pro- 
cession Is nothing to the Coronation, he's let his shop 
front for double then — he ought to pay Entertainment 
Tax! 

GUARDS {In parasitic laughter] 

Ha! Ha! Ha! 

79 



VANNI [Beaming] 

They should make me Chancellor of the Exchequer — 

[Curtains L. part, showing the MARQUIS FIUMA 

returning. GUARDS grow rigid.] 

FIUMA [Crossing to corporal] 
Be sure you let no one in a turban pass to-day unchal- 
lenged — except, of course, the Turkish Ambassador. 

VANNI 

Yes, my Colonel. 

[marquis is moving out.] 
But how shall I know it's the Turkish Ambassador? 

FIUMA 

By his coming to the State Banquet, imbecile. But 

that won't be till thirteen o'clock. 

[He turns and smiles as the curtains part, reveal- 
ing the DUCHESS d'azollo. Mistress of the Robes 
and Grand Mistress of the Court, with her two 
beautiful maids of honour. The DUCHESS is aged 
and stately, with a mantilla and a great necklace 
of rough uncut stones; the girls wear little red 
fezzes covered with seed-pearl and gold design, 
while their hair, coiled or plaited, is rolled under 
the edge of the cap.] 

FIUMA 

Ha, aunt, you're up! Headache better? 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Never mind my headache ! Who are all these strange 

men hovering about our apartments? 

80 



FIUMA 

Detectives, Duchess. 

DUCHESS D'A. [Drily] 

So I thought by our detecting them. 

FIUMA 

Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! But seriously, aunt — if it won't 
frighten these charming damsels — Marrobio's on the 
war-path. 

DUCHESS AND MAIDS [In horror'] 
Marrobio ! 

FIUMA 

Oh, not in the Palace — only near Parliament. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

See how curses come home to roost! If King Tito 
had not had a Moslem mistress ! 

FIUMA [Indicating maids of honor] 
Sh! 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Oh, they know all about the Mahdi's parentage. I 
repeat, if King Tito had confined himself to Chris- 
tian ladies 

FIUMA 

My hair wouldn't be turning as grey as yours, aunt. 
However, let us be thankful for large mercies, seeing 
8i F 



that Marrobio Is the only jar in this wonderful har- 
mony. Confess, Duchess, though you didn't like the 
Duke's Regency drying up, the Queen's coming has 
worked miracles. Moslem, Greek-Orthodox, Cath- 
olics, are at one in adoration — it is a religion! 

DUCHESS D'A. [Drily] 
With the Duke as High Priest. 

FIUMA 

Uncle always had an excellent taste in pictures. And 
when did a people have a more artistic head on its 
stamps and coins? 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Ah, you are all in love with her! 

i-'IUMA [Smiling evasively] 

You don't include the Prime Minister? 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Why else did Cazotti fish her up? If it wasn't that 
Margherita is her mother's image I should suspect 
he'd foisted some love-child of his own on the throne. 
Why didn't he tell us all these years he had rescued 
the infant Princess and was educating her in a Roman 
convent? 

FIUMA [J bit embarrassed] 

Hasn't he explained that he wanted the country to 

settle down constitutionally, that he couldn't risk her 

being murdered like her mother? 

82 



DUCHESS D'A. 

But he could risk the Duke being murdered as Regent! 
Anyhow, it's too dreadful his making his wife a Dame 
of Honour. In King Tito's day she wouldn't even 
have been received at Court. 

FIUMA 

And do you suppose Cazotti can help himself? His 
wife Is his cross. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

It's all a dreadful warning against democracy. Since 
the creature's been Lady of the Bedchamber, she con- 
siders herself one of the Royal Family. Have you 
noticed how she copies the Queen's dresses? By the 
way, I do think that horrible Jew-Baroness Gripstein 
should be forbidden to wear a necklace just like 
mine. 

FIUMA 

What do necklaces matter? What revolts me is her 
horrible husband wearing the Order of the Re- 
deemer 

[Boom of distant gun. The duchess and MAIDS 

shriek.'] 
No, no, that's not Marrobio, that's only the gun pro- 
claiming the Queen has left Parliament. 

[Re-enter roxo R. The guards present arms.] 

ROXO 

Ah, Duchess, I'm glad your headache is better. 

83 



DUCHESS D'A. 

My headache was only for royal consumption. The 
idea of expecting me to ride with the Countess 
CazottI ! 

ROXO 

It is with the Queen you would have been riding: it 
was your duty to accompany Her Majesty to the 
opening of Parliament. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

I am sure that the Queen prefers the company of my 
husband ! 

[Sweeps out L. with her ladies,] 

FIUMA [Laughingly, to GENERAL ROXO] 
Dear aunt! She's jealous! 

ROXO [Smiling] 

How absurd! Why, the Duke told me over a cigar 
that the Virgin Queen fills him with a strange new 
reverence for womanhood, and that this is the first 
time he's ever been in love innocently. 

FIUMA 

And it's the first time the Duchess has ever been 
jealous! How funny! I suppose, having nothing to 
hide this time, he takes no precautions. But I sym- 
pathise with the old boy's latest passion. I'd propose 
myself, if I didn't know I'd be ordered ofF to instant 
execution. 

84 



ROXO 

You are not far wrong. An asset like the Queen is 
not to be wasted. 

FIUMA [With a half-angry, half-comical grimace] 
Wasted? 

ROXO 

You know Valdania must lay her out to the best ad- 
vantage — she can restore our political fortunes. 

FIUMA [Consciously shocked and unconsciously 

jealous] 
You are already devising her marriage? 

ROXO 

Already? Do you suppose there were no Princes in- 
specting her 9t the Coronation? 

FIUMA 

Poor Queen ! Surely a better way to restore our politi- 
cal fortunes would be to win back our lost province. 

ROXO [Roaring] 
What? 

FIUMA 

That's what they are saying at the Officers' Club — 
Death to Bosnavina ! 

ROXO 

Death to Valdania, they mean. You remember the 
old saying: 

^5 



"Who draws the sword of Alpastroom 
Writes our or Bosnavina's doom." 

FIUMA [Laughingly] 

A safe prophecy. But our young bloods drink to 
"The Day" and believe the Queen is our war-mascot. 
They even toast her by her obsolete title of "Duchess 
of Bosnavina," and they would die for her to a man. 

ROXO 

Hush! 

[Indicates soldiers.] 

FIUMA 

They don't count. 

ROXO [In low tones] 

Bosnavina has her filthy spies everywhere — not to 

mention Cazotti's. 

[,Iloud.] 
Withdraw your men, Corporal, till I give the word. 

VANNI 

Yes, my General. Into file, right turn, quick march. 
[Exeunt guards R.] 

FIUMA 

You seem very agitated. General. 

ROXO 

Because we're not ready for war. And Bosnavina — 

86 



our friend in her War Office informs us — grows 
stronger daily. 

FIUMA 

Then why not get our blow in before she's too strong? 
All the young officers keep asking me — thinking I'm 
in the know — When are we going to get our knife 
into the beastly Bosnavinians? 

ROXO 

These cockerels crow too soon. 

FIUMA 

No ! They feel "The Day" dawning. Why, as Dra- 
matic Censor, I've had three plays this month all 
breathing Delenda est Bosnavina. 

ROXO [Alarmed] 

Crista/ You stopped them, of course? 

FIUMA 

Of course. It's not for playwrights to interfere In 

politics. 

ROXO 

Nor for new-whelped officers. Let them stick to their 
dicing and womanising. 
[Going out i?.] 

FIUMA 

With all respect, General, you shouldn't have stopped 
duelling. It lets off some of the blood. 

87 



ROXO [Turninc/] 

They don't meditate a raid, these hotheads? 

FIUMA [Hesitating] 

No. 

ROXO 
The truth! 

FIUMA 

I don't know that I've the right. ... I must see 
what my men are up to. 
[Goes L.] 

ROXO [Red-hot] 

Because if they compromise us before we're ready, I 

shall hang them like dogs ! 

FIUMA 

It — it isn't exactly a raid on our irredenta — that's too 
mountainous. But the delta of our river which Bos- 
navina has always possessed 

ROXO 

Yes, damn her! 

FIUMA 

It is there. They claim that the land is only silt 
washed down by our waters, and therefore morally 
ours. 



ROXO 

Unquestionably. Nevertheless 

FIUMA 

I only gathered vaguely, you know, but I fancy the 
plan is to swoop down and plant our flag on the Cus- 
tom House. 

ROXO 

Tomfoolery! What good will that do? 

FIUMA 

Well, they think that this deed of derring-do — while 
you are dilly-dallying — will raise Valdania to blood- 
heat and 

ROXO 

While I am dilly-dallying! My God, when I think 
of our Revenge day and night — what else have I 
to think of now my poor Lisa's dead? 

[JVipes his eyes.] 
They come, these cackling cubs, stuffed with military 
science from their French or Italian schools, and 
preach I'm only a slugabed, who must never be made 
a Marshal. 

FIUMA 

No, no, sir, you are still the nation's hero. 

ROXO 

I was — six months ago. But it takes less time to kill 
off a national hero than to bring a babe to birth. 

89 



. . . They are right. I've lost my grip these black 
weeks. 

[Blows his nose.] 
I didn't realise there's so much healthy war-spirit. 

FIUMA 

Isn't it natural, now we're so happy and prosperous? 

ROXO 

And it's all through the Queen, God bless her. 

[Wipes his eyes.] 
But I understand now why Cazotti has put a larger 
army into the Queen's speech. 

FIUMA 

Has he? Trust him to keep his ear to the ground. 

ROXO 

And he pretended it was to conciliate me! But if the 
country is coming along of itself. . . . All the same. 
Colonel, warn our young bloods that with this new- 
fangled League of Nations always making trouble for 
the weaker, the first blow must come from Bosnavina, 
not from us, and if they dare stir a finger before we're 
ready 

FIUMA 

The aide-de-camp on service here to-day is the wildest 
— I'll speak to him at once. 

[Exit L.. ROXO hums happily and moves R.] 

ROXO [Calling genially'] 
Come along. Corporal! 
90 



VANNI 

Suhito, my General! Left turn, march! 

[Re-enter guards and take up old position.] 

ROXO 

You may keep your stripe. 

VANNI 

Thank you, my General ! 

[Exit ROXO R., hmnming on happily. GUARDS 
salute.'] 
You see, you swine ! 

[Stretches himself.] 
. . . Time the Queen got home I I'm ravenous. 
On duty since dawn. They never consider us, these 
grandees. I don't mean the Queen, God bless her — 
she'd chuck us her own macaroni if she knew! But I 
suppose we're better off than those poor devils down 
there, standing all night on the Piazza, eh? True, 
they've got their grub with them. Good idea ! Has 
anybody got any string? 

[Various pieces are offered to the tyrant.] 
That! Wouldn't even go round your neck! . . . 
Ah, that's more like it! . . . 

[He ties pieces together to the end of a bayonet.] 
Fools hunger, wise men fish. 

[guards laugh. He pushes open casement R., let- 
ting in noises as before. But the bells have ceased 
and the cries of the hazvkcrs are nozv dominated by 
the gipsy-like strains of folk music from the guzlas 
(the two-stringed mandolines) and the shrill 
91 



sounds of bagpipes. The CORPORAL goes out on 
the balcony and drops his fishing-line into the Pi- 
azza, shouting down.] 
Hi there! Don't eat It all I 

[Laughter and applause comes up from the crowd, 
other noises are stilled in the general interest. The 
corporal's men move from their file and crowd 
around casement.] 
Tie it on! Thanks! Ah, that's coming, coming, com- 
ing 

[// breathless moment, followed by a loud roar.] 
Damn ! 

[guards join in laughter.] 
No, it's too dirty now. ... A tin of meat? 
Thanks, Abdullah Mashallah, or whatever your name 
is . . . May your shadow never grow less! . . . 
Pass it up to the urchin astride Tito's statue and he'll 
pass it to the rascal trespassing on the flag-staff. . . . 
Tie it round tight, you son of a squirrel ! That's it — 
coming — coming — coming — Come ! 

[Crowd and GUARDS clap hands in vast aiJiuse- 
ment. COPORAL re-enters, closing casement and 
begins detaching the package from his fishing-rod.] 
Cristof He gives good weight! 

USHER [fVithout R.] 

The saints preserve your excellency! 

[A lightning rush of GUARDS to get into line, and 
of the CORPORAL to pocket the package and 
string.] 

92 



VANNI [Looking off] 

Oh, it's only the Jew-Baron. But it pays to salute him. 

Attention, pigs ! 

[Enter BARON GRIPSTEIN in gala attire wearing the 
sash of the Order of the Redeemer. He is a some- 
what florid personage of sympathetic and intelli- 
gent appearance with marked Semitic features. 
The GUARDS present arms.'] 

BARON GR. [Beaming] 

Ah, Corporal, this is a great day for our country — 
you must all drink to it. 
[Distributes notes.] 

VANNI AND GUARDS 
The saints preserve your excellency! 
[Re-enter fiuma L.] 

BARON [Turning] 

Buon giorno, Marquis. You're looking so much 
better that when I carried a candle behind you in the 
Corpus Domini Procession. 

[marquis stares frigidly.] 
Ah, 3^ou are wondering why I am so early for the Ban- 
quet. But I had business with the Comptroller of the 
Household and I know I couldn't get through the 
crowd again even to escort the Baroness. Marvellous 
weather, is it not? Queen's weather we are beginning 
to call it. It was the same, you remember, when 
Cazotti brought her home from the convent, and the 
same at the Coronation. 

93 



[fiuma has insolently turned his back on the 
BARON and is writing in his note-book.'] 
Oh, how she has pulled the country together — I never 
was so proud of being a Valdanlan. But I see you 
have no time for gossip. I don't wonder, with your 
responsibilities to-day. A rivederla at the Banquet. 
[Exit R. The guards salute.'] 

FIUMA 

How dare you salute a Jew? 

VANNI 

So sorry, my Colonel. We salute everybody with the 

Order of the Redeemer. Attention ! 

[roxo re-enters and the fresh salute stops the 

discussion.] 

FIUMA 

Did you see the Jew? 

ROXO 

I met him, but I didn't see him. 

FIUMA 

And I didn't hear him. Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! 

ROXO 

This is no time for amusement. Marrobio has 
eluded us. 

FIUMA 

Escaped through a city-gate? 

94 



ROXO 

Would to God he had! Captain Molp got the Queen 
safely into the carriage and it is moving faster than 
the crowd likes. But what if Marrobio is lurking just 
below us to stab or shout her as she alights ? 

FIUMA 

He'd be torn in pieces. 

ROXO 

He'd think it worth while and that Paradise and its 

houris awaited him. 

FIUMA 

We ought to have arrested him while we had the 
chance. 

ROXO 

Perhaps you were right. But I hate wasting life. Til 

see if I can espy him. 

\^He mounts step R., pushes open casement and 

steps on balcony. The noises ahnost instantly 

change into one great cry of "Roxof Roxof Viva 

Roxo/"] 

[He shrinks back modestly.] 

For heaven's sake! 
[Closes casement.] 

This is not my day. 

FIUMA [Smiling] 

What about the forgotten national hero? Eh? 

95 



ROXO [Steps down] 

We were speaking of silly young officers. 

[Hums happily again, turns genially to COR- 
PORAL.] 

Your men must be famished. What? There's time 

before the Queen arrives to snatch a mouthful. 

VANNI 

God bless you, my General. Right wheel, forward! 

ROXO 

But keep your ears open for the National Anthem — 
or I'll cut 'em off. 

VANNI 

Ah, my General, when shall we cut 'em off the beastly 

Bosnavinians? 

ROXO 

You prattle too much. 
[Exeunt GUARDS R.] 

ROXO 

One thing puzzles me, Colonel. How did Marrobio 
in his remote fastness know that to-day the Queen 
would open Parliament? 

FIUMA 

I suppose one of his amnestied followers passed on 
the date. 

ROXO 

Unless it was Cazotti ! 
96 



FIUMA 

The Prime Minister! Oh come, excellency! That's 
too cynical. 

[Looks toward Piazza.] 
I suppose there's no other measure we can take. 

ROXO 

None. In war there is always the unexpected. And 

this dare-devil descent of Marrobio's ! We can 

only pray that the God of Valdania will protect our 
Margherita. 

FIUMA 

Amen! 

ROXO 

And baffle Cazotti. 

FIUMA 

No, I won't say "Amen" to that. Cazotti has ob- 
viously abandoned his hopes of the crown and finds 
consolation in the prestige he has extracted from the 
very collapse of them. Yes, he may rob your excel- 
lency of the glory of restoring the Queen, he may 
stamp his fraud on the mob with films and picture 
postcards, but as for conniving with a rebel to mur- 
der her — no! no! What was it Da Pietra called him? 
A modern condottiere ! And murder isn't modern. 

ROXO 

I wouldn't trust him if a mediaeval opportunity came 
97 G 



his way. Look how he had Marrobio's lieutenant 
murdered. 

FIUMA 

Do you mean the one who surrendered at the Coro- 
nation Amnesty? But you acquiesced ! 

ROXO 

It was a painful State necessity. The amnesty was 
indiscreet, too wide — the man probably meant to spy 
— But what I might do or permit for State reasons, 
Cazotti is capable of doing to gain the throne. See, 
anyhow, that the office of royal taster isn't abolished 
— the most subtle poisons are modern. 

FIUMA 

But If you are right, what can one do against such a 
man? 

ROXO 

Only what I do do; work with him. It's the only 
means of keeping a check on him. Let him rob me of 
my glory, I use him for the glory of God and Val- 
dania. You see how he is coming our way with his 
Army Bill. As a matter of fact, I find it easier to 
handle a devil like Cazotti than an angel like the 
Queen. 

FIUMA [S1mUng^ 

What has Her Majesty done now? 

98 



ROXO 

Oh, nothing new. I'm only thinking of the trouble 
she gave us over his convent story. These American 
college girls have such a primitive sense of truth. 

FIUMA 

I rather admired It. 

ROXO 

You're getting as sentimental as the Duke. Public 
personages cannot keep private consciences. I don't 
know what Cazotti would have done if his most rev- 
erend eminence, her Confessor, hadn't Instructed her 
that a fiction in the State interest Is not merely venial 
but a virtue. Even so, you remember, the obsti- 
nate creature would go Into a Roman convent for a 
term. 

FIUMA 

Which only gave Cazotti the opportunity of photo- 
graphing the place, with Margherita In the back- 
ground. 

ROXO 

And himself In the foreground. 

FIUMA 

And himself in the foreground. 

USHER [outside R.] 

Way there for the Prime Minister. 

99 



FIUMA 

Talk of the ! 

[Enter CAZOTTI in gala dress, with stars and or- 
ders. He is short and stout, like Napoleon, with 
a big head carefully modelled on his. Manner 
genial. He comes forward holding out both 
hands. '\ 

CAZ. 

What luck to find you both before the Banquet! 

ROXO [Taking one hand] 
What luck to be found! 

FIUMA [Taking the other] 

Dear Count Cazotti, what can we do for you? 

CAZ. 

Exercise your military censorship over the newspapers. 
The Queen has altered the Queen's speech! 

ROXO 

Your speech, you mean. 

CAZ. 

Ah, I know in your heart you militarists would like 
to bring back autocracy. But that's impossible in 
these days of popular control. One would have 
thought all this glory and huzzahing quite enough for 
a young girl without her itching to interfere in State 
affairs — there must be fair division, what? Why, 
here am I who have carried the real burden of 

ICO 



Valdania for years, and yet were I to go out Into that 
crowd 

FIUMA [Slily] 

Your excellency wasn't cheered, coming? 

CAZ. 

I dodged the route — I was In a hurry to stop her in- 
discretions getting into print. 

ROXO 

But the papers are in your own hands. 

CAZ. 

Mine? I parted with all such interests when I took 
office. 

FIUMA 

Ahem! 

CAZ. 

Word of honour. Marquis. To Baron Gripstein, If 
you want to know. 

ROXO 

Our press in Jewish hands ! 

CAZ. 

The best way to keep It tame. No, It's not Gripsteln's 
papers I'm afraid of — they had the official speech in 
type before It was delivered — It's these irresponsible 
Pacifist organs 

lOI 



ROXO [Alarmed] 

She didn't cut out the increase of the army? 

CAZ. 

Oh no! I worded it "Reform of the Army" and she 
thought it meant diminution. 

ROXO AND FIUMA 
Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! 

CAZ, [Smiling] 

Ah, but she poured out a programme that wouldn't 

leave a penny for our glorious army — roads, bridges, 

canals, railways, irrigation, schools, colleges — all the 

things she found in America and can't find here. 

Would to God she had been brought up in my Roman 

convent. 

ROXO 

Didn't she promise everybody a bathroom? 

CAZ. 

Ha ! Ha ! We had enough worry building her own 
bathroom. You remember the trouble to put in the 
telephone. The old Palace doesn't lend itself to these 
new-fangled devices; especially as it began life as a 
monastery. 

FIUMA 

But how on earth did she know we need canals and 
bridges ? 

103 



CAZ. 

It's that old fool, the Duke D'Azollo, who motors 
her about — Oh, I'm sorry — I forgot he was your 
aunt's husband. 

FIUMA 

He often forgot It himself. 

[Laughter.] 
But won't the Queen be angry If we cut out her canals 
and ? 

CAZ. 

That's all right. I just met the Baron in the corridor, 
and he'll have a special copy of the Gazetta printed 
off for her, with her Indiscretions in full. That's the 
only paper she reads herself. The rest are summar- 
ised by her secretary and he will report that they are 
all enthusiastic about her bathrooms — I beg her par- 
don, canals. 

[roxo and he laugh.] 

FIUMA 

How we all deceive her! Her position Is pitiful. 

CAZ. 

Pitiful? It Is magnificent I 

FIUMA 

It isn't very magnificent to be cut off from the people 
you've been brought up among! To have your letters 
and wires stopped without your knowledge! It's like 
writing to the dead, she said to me once, with tears 
103 



in her eyes. To make me feel worse, I had to suggest 
that the reason she got no answers from Da Pietra 
and Ohver Kandel was that they would not forgive 
her for deserting them — and now she goes about re- 
signed, ecstatic even, like a young nun cut off from 
her past. You may imagine the relief to me to have 
no more letters to open ! 

ROXO 

What! While I was at my poor wife's death-bed, 
you have let Her Majesty stop writing heart-to-heart 
letters ! 

FIUMA 

I don't understand 



ROXO 

What other means have we of discovering her secret 
thoughts? And when it comes to providing her with a 
Prince Consort 

CAZ. 

Most true. We must at once find her another cor- 
respondent. 

ROXO 

Not possible. One can't suddenly create for her a 
friend to whom she'll pour herself out. 

CAZ. 

I have it. Til remove the Duke from the capital. 
104 



ROXO 

Banish him? 

CAZ. 

No, no — send him on a mission. Then we can read 
her letters before delivery. 

ROXO 

Splendid ! 

FIUMA 

I don't like it. And besides, he won't go. 

CAZ. 

I'll send him to study canals — then he won't dare dis- 
please her by refusing. 

ROXO 

Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! One of your best combinations. 

CAZ. 

And on second thoughts, why suppress her peace pro- 
gramme at all? It's the very thing to keep the Paci- 
fists off the scent. Eh, General? 

ROXO 

I don't know what you mean. 

CAZ. 

Come, come! I play cards on table. If you're not 
out to smash Bosnavina, why all these ice-axes, cat- 
shoes, skis and alpenstocks that the War Office still 
105 



accumulates against Marrobio under your demand? 
So many mountain-batteries, such heaps of munitions 
against one practically isolated individual? 

ROXO 

I don't deny that since my boyhood the Revenge has 
been my dream — if I have been converted to Da 
Pietra's policy and yours, it is to unite all Valdania for 
the great day. But the hour is not ripe. 

CAZ. 

It is ripe — the people are itching for their lost moun- 
tains — the young officers drink to "The Day!" 

FIUMA [Startled] 
You know? 

CAZ. 

Everything, my dear Marquis — even to the projected 
raid on the Delta. 

ROXO 

A fatal folly. We are not ready. 

CAZ. 

So you said twenty years ago. You never really 
change. 

ROXO 

And you're always changing. 

CAZ. 

I change with the times — like the thermometer with 
the temperature. 
1 06 



ROXO 

Or the weathercock with the wind. Then is politics 
only inconsistency raised to a career? 

CAZ. 

To a science. The science of public opinion. Val- 
dania feels her life tingling. Now is the moment to 
strike. Now or never. 

ROXO 

For you perhaps — I, too, play cards on table. My 
Queen has trumped your kna . . . Jack. And you 
seek to recover your old ascendency over the people. 

CAZ. 

It is the people that seeks to recover our old ascend- 
ency over Bosnavina. 

ROXO 

The people's heart is sound, but its head is wood. 

CAZ. 

The better to butt with! Come, I'd make you Afar- 
shal Roxo. 

ROXO [Alarmed-] 

For God's sake ! There are five reasons that forbid 

war, any one sufficient. 

CAZ. 

And the first? 
107 



ROXO 

Marrobio. So long as he is unhanged, we dare not 
draw off our forces. 

CAZ. 

But he Is all but deserted. 

ROXO 

The opportunity would win him fresh followers. 
Apropos, you know him from the old Tito days. Do 
step out on the balcony and see if he's in the crowd. 

CAZ. [Agitated] 
He's In Scaletta? 

ROXO 

Alas! 

CAZ. 

And you ask me to make myself a target for him ! 
No, thank you. 

FIUMA 

I'll look, If you like, though I don't know him from 
Adam, 

[Going to casement] 
except by his clothes. Ha ! Ha ! What sort of man 
is he? 

ROXO 

Tall, noble even. 

[ FIUMA mounts step L. and pushes open casement 
L. A military march is heard in the distance.] 

1 08 



FIUMA 

Ah, do you hear? The Queen must be close on the 
Strada Da Pietra. That's her own peace-song. . . . 

[Steps out on balcony and looks down.] 
There's a whole group of Moslems just below — tall, 
short, and in-between. 

ROXO 

Never mind. We must trust to God. 
[fiuma comes in.] 

FIUMA [Closing casement] 

Jolly tune, isn't it? Makes a good march. 

[Descends step to the rhythm, now heard more 

plainly.] 

ROXO 

The Queen has quite a httle talent, musicians tell me. 
But it's a mistake for royal personages to expose 
themselves even to praise. The University can make 
them Doctors of Science or Music, but they oughtn't 
to know anything of either. 

CAZ. 

Ah, but look what an asset to have the Queen's own 
music for a war-march. Let us make it the Valdanian 
"Tipperary." 

ROXO [Roughly] 

It's a long, long way to Tipperary. 

CAZ. 

Ah, yes^ your five reasons. And the second? 
109 



ROXO 

We've no general ! No, don't say me — I'm a cavalry 
man, not a mountain-fighter. Besides, I'm getting too 
old for campaigning — my wife's death has not left me 
unshaken — my absent arm reports itself sometimes — 
even to-day — oh, only a twinge ; I just mention it. 
Still, my present home duties are about all I'm fit for. 
But even if I felt as young as when I fought Da 
Pietra, Valdania lacks — and that's obstacle number 
three — an honest man at the War Office! 

CAZ. 

You accuse 1 

FIUMA 

But, General, if they've got you your Ice-axes ! 

ROXO 

The Commissions were good — I speak my mind. And 
suppose somebody tried a coup on the Bourse ! No, 
by God, I won't be betrayed from the rear. 

CAZ. 

Well, take the War Office yourself. Only find me an- 
other great general. 

ROXO 

There is none. I make no pretences. Valdania has 
no great mountain-fighter — except the Mahdi ! 

CAZ. 

Except Marrobio ! Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! 
no 



FIUMA 

Ha! Ha! Ha! What a joke! 

ROXO 

But the grim truth. One needs guerilla experience, 
and all the military genius of his grandfather, Boris 
the Bloody, which skipped over Tito, has come for 
our sins to Marrobio. . . . 

[Pricks up his ears] 
Why has the music stopped? 

CAZ. 

It must be the halt at the Palace of Justice. The 
Deputation of Judges 

ROXO 

Damn the fools ! Multiplying risks like that. That's 

where Marrobio will be. 

[Bitterly.] 
He's a judge — of positions. 

CAZ. 

Don't let's get off the track. What's your fourthly? 

ROXO 

We dare not attack Bosnavina and have the League 
of Nations on our back. 

CAZ. 

Pooh! I'm surprised at you, General. Bosnavina 
shall open the ball. We've only got to insult that pod 
of pepper, her Ambassador. 
Ill 



FIUMA 

Ha! Ha! Ha! It was just because Bosnavina did 
not open the ball that we nearly got our war months 
ago. 

ROXO [Agitated] 

Eh? What Is this I hear? 

FIUMA {Smiling] 

You didn't know? At the Coronation Ball the Queen 
led off the Cotillon with the American Minister in- 
stead of with Prince Condrexoulok. The Prince 
flung out of the ball-room, grinding his false teeth. 

CAZ. 

Seriously, it was all I could do to prevent war. 

ROXO 

Good God! Why wasn't I told? 

FIUMA 

You were away. Your wife was dying. 

ROXO 

What did that matter? With the country in danger! 
But you were Chamberlain then, sir. Why did you 
convey the Queen's command to dance? Why didn't 
you warn her? 

FIUMA 

I did. Only she wouldn't take me seriously. She said 
she wanted to talk about America and that the poor 

112 



Minister looked so drab amid all his parrot-coloured 
colleagues. Not that I quite understand myself why 
our best-hated neighbour must always have prece- 
dence. 

ROXO 

Prince Condrexoulok is the doyen of the diplomatic 
corps as well as a Highness, and, anyhow, an Ambas- 
sador is bigger than a Minister. 

FIUMA 

Well, we can't insult him in the ball-room- any 
longer, for he can only walk with a stick now. 

CAZ. 

We'll find a way. What's your fifthly? 
[Music strikes up again.'\ 

ROXO 

Ah, they're moving on. Thank God! ... I beg 

your pardon? 

CAZ. 

Your* fifthly? 

ROXO 

Ah, yes; fifthly and finally, no money! 

CAZ. 

Pah! Now that the Queen has brought stability, and 
our standing on the Bourses has risen, a loan on the 

world-market, Gripstein assures me 

113 H 



ROXO 

The Baron? We're to go to the Jews! 

CAZ. 

Fiddlesticks! The man's as fervent a CathoHc as you, 
and an even fiercer Anti-Semite ! 

ROXO 

And a Knight of the Order of the Redeemer! A man 
with no quarterings — not even a shield! Ah, Cazotti, 
how can I work with you, when you give a Jew ? 

CAZ. 

But it was the Duke who insisted on it — the outgoing 
Regent. 

ROXO 

Whose pictures Gripstein bought back for him. 

FIUMA [Smiling] 

The Baron certainly pays his way! 

CAZ. 

But the pictures are only to be the Duke's during his 
lifetime. Then Gripstein gives them to the nation. 

ROXO 

The nation shall refuse them if I'm alive! 

CAZ. 

Hoity-toity! We've already accepted two hospitals 
and an officers' orphanage. You tried raising money 
114 



without him. You went to America. What did you 
bring back? 

ROXO [Roaring] 

I brought back the Queen! 

CAZ. 

Hush! Yes, of course! But the Queen is scarcely 
convertible into cash. Ah, here comes the converter 
himself 

FIUMA 

The converted, you mean. 

[Laughter. He and ROXO ostentatiously turn their 
backs on the BARON, who enters R.] 

BARON GR. 

I've arranged it all, your excellency. 

CAZ. 

Then 'phone it all off, please. We want the Queen's 
actual speech reported in full everywhere. 

BARON GR. 

Then you adopt her peace-programme? 

CAZ. 

Enthusiastically. You approve? 

BARON GR. 

I am enchanted. It is just what Valdania needs to re- 
store her position among the Powers. 

115 



CAZ. 

Only It will mean money 

BARON GR. 

And why not that loan on the world-market ? 

CAZ. 

Because — to tell the truth — these gentlemen object to 
your agency! 

BARON GR. [Skirting suddenly round to face them, 

with Oriental emotion and gesture] 
Ah, Signori ! But I owe Valdania everything. My 
wealth, my nationality, my wife, my children, my reli- 
gion. 

[Foice husky with tears.] 
In Germany I was a pariah; my sons couldn't have 
been officers. And you refuse me the opportunity of 
proving my gratitude ! 

FIUMA 

And increasing your profits I 

BARON GR. 

No, Marquis. The State shall have my commission. 

[JVipes his eyes.] 
On my honour as a Knight of the Redeemer! 

ROXO 

The man seems genuine. . . . 

[Holds out his hand.] 
Excuse my left hand! 

[The BARON grips it fervently.] 
ii6 



But . . . see how I trust your honour — suppose the 
loan was wanted for war ! 

BARON GR. [Ecstatically] 
For war against Bosnavina ! 

ROXO 

Hush! You approve? 

BARON GR. 

I am enchanted. It is just what Valdania needs to 
restore her position among the Powers. The great 
Valdania ! Ah, how happy my boys will be ! The 
dream of "The Day" is their day-dream. When are 
we going to get our knives into those beastly Bosna- 
vinians, they keep asking me. Only yesterday my 
Sigismondo repeated the old prophecy: 

"When Rome yields up our royal seed, 
Bosnavina to death shall bleed." 

And I thought to myself, surely it means now — the 
Roman convent yielding up our beloved Queen ! 
[The three look at each other.] 

CAZ. 

Ahem ! Your reading may be — useful. Though it Is 
usually read to mean the resurrection of our national 
hero, Alpastroom, who was buried in Rome and whose 
sword is piously preserved in this very room. 

BARON GR. [Proudly] 
I know, I know. 

[Looking at it over the throne.] 
117 



"Who draws the sword of Alpastroom 
Writes our or Bosnavina's doom," 

FIUMA [Laughing] 

Ha ! Ha ! That oracle always amuses me. And if 

he fell In Rome, how comes his sword here? 

BARON GR. 

Ah, we must not question our old traditions. They are 
the poetry of life. I'll 'phone at once about the news- 
papers and take soundings for the loan 

CAZ. 

But to build canals, etcetera, remember. Indeed, we 
can always begin with strategic railways. What a 
blessing In disguise the Queen's speech is proving! 

BARON GR. 

Your peace-programme shall be welcomed in all my 
papers. 

[Going.'] 

FIUMA 

But won't that be awkward — if we do get our war? 

CAZ. 

Bless you, my young friend, the public has no mem- 
ory. The head of wood, what? Ha! Ha! Ha! . . . 
Oh, and Baron, let there be telegrams from Bosnavlna 
on the oppression of our co-nationals — school-children 
lashed for speaking Valdanian, our women raped, and 
so on. And — wait a moment — the Gazetta must have 
ii8 



a leader on the spread of Valdanian culture through 
the Balkans 

BARON GR. 

My Sigismondo shall write it. He is particularly 
keen on our mission. 

[Exit R., murmuring unctuously.] 
"When Rome yields up our royal seed " 

FIUMA 

These Jews are incredible. . . . 

[Music swells. A fiery roll of the drums.'] 
Ah she's coming! 

ROXO 

They won't have eyes for me now. 

[Rushes to balcony R, and peers down. Now only 
a mere buzz of intense expectation comes up, to- 
gether with the marching and the music. 

My God! Fiuma ! He's there! 

FIUMA [Rushing to join him] 
Where? 

ROXO 

That towering figure — just where the Queen must 
dismount! God help her! 

FIUMA 

What can we do? 

ROXO 

Rush your men at once 

119 



FIUMA 

Arrest him ? 

ROXO 

Not till she's passed. Wedge him in so that he can't 
move a finger. 

[National Anthem breaks out, as at end of First 

Act.] 
Quick ! Quick ! 

[As FIUMA rushes down, CAZOTTI deliberately 

rushes up and blocks him a moment on the stone 

step.] 

CAZ. 

So sorry. . . . 

[Rushes on balcony.] 
Where is he? 

[guards hurry in R., munching and wiping their 

mouths. Distant cheers begin, rolling rapidly 

nearer.] 

VANNI 

Halt, swine ! Right wheel ! 

CAZ. 

Her milk-white horses are red with rose-leaves! 

ROXO 

God grant it may not be with blood. 

[Desperately] 
Where are our men? Why don't they come? 

120 



CAZ. 

I can't bear to look. 

[Comes down and sits on the step with his back to 
ROXO, his face betraying his real hopes.] 

ROXO 

Ah, there's our men! . . . But the soldiers won't let 
'em pass! God, damn their cabbage-heads! 

CAZ. 

Why this silence? 

ROXO [Jt white-heat] 

Another address ! They've stopped the carriage. 

[Stamps foot.] 
Corpo di Dio! Who allowed it? 

CAZ. 

The Master of Ceremonies, I suppose. I had noth- 
ing to do with it. 

ROXO 

Don't excuse yourself — who accuses you? 

[Looks again.] 
Damnation! Little girls with bouquets — she's kissing 
them, curse them ! 

[Stamps foot.] 
Marrobio's eye Is focussed on her like a burning-glass. 
Oh! 

[Covers eyes, then when he re-opens them gives an 

exultant cry.] 

121 



Ah ! Our men have wriggled in ! Bravo, Fiuma ! 
Bravo ! 

[Claps hands.] 

CAZ. [Disconcerted, dolefully clapping hands] 
Bravo, hravissimo! 

ROXO 

She's inside! Ouf! 

[Drops on chair trembling all over.] 

CAZ. 

Thank God! 

[JVipes his forehead.] 

[There is a stir in the Palace. From either side 
courtiers come trooping in, the duchess and her 
maids, and other ladies of honour in elaborate and 
fantastic Court costumes not quite fVestern, some 
wearing gold sequins for decoration and others long 
ear-rings, officers and aides-de-camp glittering with 
epaulettes and gold lace, Chamberlains, Comp- 
trollers, Heralds in tabards, Stewards with cocked 
hats and swords and strange traditional costumes. 
The National Anthem still vibrates in the back- 
ground. All dispose themselves looking towards 
R. From the corridor comes the stir of an advanc- 
ing procession, and trumpeters are heard sound- 
ing a fanfare on silver trumpets. The excitement 
mounts to fever heat. The gentlefnan usher, a 
magnificently gilded being, enters.] 

122 



USHER 

Way for the Queen! 

[Preceded by trumpeters, equerries, grooms and 
other gentlemen-at-arms, and finally by two hal- 
berdiers walking backwards with their long staves, 
and accompanied by pages bearing bouquets, 
QUEEN MARGHERITA enters. Stepping with heredi- 
tary dignity, the crown still on her head, her arms 
full of roses, arid semi-barbaric heirloom jewels 
flashing^ from her gold-brocaded gown. Behind 
her comes an honorary guard of Mohammedan 
Aghas in zvhite kilts and scarlet fezzes, coats and 
shoes, with great sashes stuffed with weapons, and 
between them and the QUEEN walk the duke 
d'azollo and the countess cazotti. The 
COUNTESS is a vulgar, golden-haired beauty, evi- 
dently made up, the DUKE is a white-haired, courtly 
old figure with an artistic face. He carries a mass 
of parchment addresses, and his gold-epauletted 
coat is almost invisible beneath decorations. As 
the QUEEN enters, all those already assembled 
curtsey or bow elaborately.^ 

QUEEN [Smiling and drawing a long breath'] 

So that's over! . . . Well, General, you see how 

right I was to refuse your police escort. 

ROXO [Beaming'] 

Your majesty is always right. 

QUEEN 

But you surely didn't need all those soldiers! 
123 



ROXO 

Pure decoration, Madam. By the way, when will 
Your Majesty redeem your promise to review them? 

QUEEN 

When have I time? With all those papers CazottI 
makes me sign. Ah, here he is! How did you get 
here before me? 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

That's just like my husband's little ways. 
[Titter of courtiers^ 

CAT.. \JFith angry side-glance'] 

I flew, Madam, to welcome you home after your Par- 
liamentary success. 

QUEEN 

Then you didn't really mind my little additions? 

CAZ. 

Mind? The Government has gratefully adopted them. 

QUEEN [Clapping hands girlishly] 

You make me so happy! If only daddy were here to 

see how wrong he was ! 

CAZ. 

Ah, but King Tito lived in different times. 

QUEEN [Clouded] 

King Tito? Ah! Yes, of course 

[Bites her lips and turns to duchess.] 
124 



I am so glad your headache is better. Your husband 

has been so kind with the addresses and bouquets. 

You'll put them all in water, won't you, Marchesa? 
[The DUKE hastens to hand the addresses to that 
Lady-in-JFaiting. The QUEEN laughs a ringing, 
girlish laugh.] 

No, not those, dry as they are ! 

[ The MARCHESA and the pages go off with the flow- 
ers and parchments, save a few roses retained by 
the QUEEN.] 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Your Majesty must prepare for the Banquet. 

CAZ. 

Not before pacifying the people. Listen! 

[Cries of "Margheritaf" "Margherita!" are com- 
ing up from the Piazza.] 

You must show yourself a moment. 

QUEEN 

But they've just seen me ! 

ROXO 

Quite so. Why expose yourself unnecessarily? 

QUEEN 

Those silly alarms again! I shall go just to frighten 

you. 

[CAZOTTI hurries to open casement L. The QUEEN 
steps out, and the air becomes one vast vibration 
''Viva Margherita! Viva Margherita!" She 

125 



comes In again, shaken with emotion. But the cries 
redouble. *' Speech! Speech!" Between laughter 
and crying.'] 
Another Queen's speech? 

[Laughter of the COURTIERS.] 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

But my husband makes those ! Go along, Alexis ! 

CAZ. [In fierce whisper] 

Hold your tongue ! 

[Enter BARON GRIPSTEIN R. He grasps the situa- 
tion immediately and waves his handkerchief.] 

BARON GR. 

Speech! Speech! 

COURTIERS [Waving handkerchiefs] 
Speech! Speech! 

[queen returns to balcony. A magic silence falls.] 

QUEEN [In a clear but trembling voice] 
My own, my dear people, I thank you all — Moslems 
and Christians alike — for your welcome of me. I 
feel so happy to think that after all the years of un- 
rest and blood, our country is at peace — at peace for 

evermore. I thank God that through me 

[Breaks down with a sob. The countess ca- 
ZOTTI starts forward with her handkerchief.] 
126 



CAZ. [Aside to gripstein] 

Splendid, that bit about perpetual peace. See it's re- 
ported. 

[gripstein scribbles in note-book.'] 

QUEEN [Recovering] 

When at my Coronation I took the oath of fidelity to 
your service, I was afraid the burden would be too 
great for me. But your love is lightening it. I 
pray God that I may never lose that love or your faith 
in me, because it is all that I have In the world — all 

that — that 

[Breaks into tears and retreats into the room amid 
frantic vivas from within and without. The COUR- 
TIERS shout and wave handkerchiefs. The Na- 
tional Anthem breaks out again. ROXO closes the 
casement in relief. The duchess and countess 
rush to wipe the queen's tears, but the COUNTESS 
wins.] 

QUEEN [Smiling through her tears] 
It's just like a first-night In New York! 

CAZ. [In icy reminder] 

So one reads. Your Majesty. 

ROXO [Equally alarmed] 
Her Majesty Is tired. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Come, Madam. 

[The QUEEN goes with her L. MARQUIS fiuma 
127 



rushes in R. and whispers excitedly to ROXO. The 
QUEEN turns with a sudden thought.] 

QUEEN 

Oh, as to that review, Roxo 



[roxo ffoes on talking; FIUMA nudges hi77i.] 
What are you so absorbed about? 

ROXO 

Nothing, Madam, just professional. 

QUEEN [Mockingly] 

More precautions on my account? 

ROXO 

The contrary. Colonel Fiuma has just captured the 

last of the Moslem rebels. 

BARON GR. 

Marrobio! The saints be praised. Bravo, Marquis. 

QUEEN 

Captured? But I amnestied them all. 

ROXO 

This was their leader. He wouldn't accept your grace. 

QUEEN [Sniiling] 

Well, I dare say he will now. But everybody seems 
so pleased, Fiuma, I feel I ought to give you some- 
thing. The Order of the Redeemer — Second Class? 
128 



FIUMA [Overwhelmed] 
Oh, Madam, that is too much! 

[She extends her hand graciously, which he kisses, 

bowing low.] 

QUEEN 

And you, too, Cazotti, you must let me express my 
gratitude for your kindness to-day. 

CAZ. 

Better wait, Madam, till I have carried out your re- 
forms. I shall have the honour of submitting to you 
to-morrow the members of a roving Commission for 
Canals and Bridges under the Presidency of the Duke 
D'Azollo. 



QUEEN 

Splendid! 

[Claps her hands. The COURTIERS, led by GRIP- 
STEIN, clap theirs.] 

DUKE D'A. [startled] 

Me? I'm too old — I can't leave my wife! 

DUCHESS D'A. 

What nonsense ! 
[Laughter.] 

DUKE D'A. [Making a wry face] 
Everybody wants to get rid of me. 
129 I 



QUEEN 

You know I shall miss you very much. Come, sit 
down a moment, and let me persuade you. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

But, Madam, your toilette for the Banquet! 

QUEEN 

I've only to take off my crown and do my hair. But 

don't let me keep anybody else. 

[Everybody melts away with backward bows while 

the dialogue proceeds. '\ 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Well, give it to me now — it will save time. 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

Excuse me. Duchess. That is my crown. 
[Takes it off.] 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Your Majesty will find me in waiting. 
[Exit with dignity.] 

QUEEN [To COUNTESS] 
No, nothing else now. 

[Exit COUNTESS backward with crown.] 
And there's no need to keep your men like toy soldiers, 
Corporal. They can come back for the reception. 

VANNI 

God bless Your Majesty. Right turn, march. 

[Exeunt GUARDS R.] 
130 



QUEEN 

Why don't you sit down? You know the D'Azollos 
have the right to sit, even were I standing. 

DUKE D'A. 

I am not here as your premier Duke, but as your pre- 
mier adorer. 

QUEEN 

Oh, please ! Haven't I had enough to-day of bobbing 
statesmen and crawling councillors, not to mention the 
poem declaring my face turns even the sun to a rush- 
light. 

[Laughs girlishly. '\ 
Ha! Ha! Ha! 

DUKE D'A. 

So it does. Your Majesty. 

QUEEN 

Oh, do forget my Majesty, now we're alone. 

DUKE D'A. 

If I can remember to forget It. 

QUEEN 

Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! That's like Norah I 

DUKE D'A. 

Who is Norah? 
131 



QUEEN 

Never mind. 
[Siffhs.] 
Dear Norah! 

DUKE D'A. 

Now you're sad. 

QUEEN [Recovering herself] 

Because you're so disobedient. Sit down at once, or 

I'll get up and then you'll have to melt away. 

DUKE D'A. 

Anything but that. 
[Sits.] 

QUEEN 

That's right. Do you remember my first levee? How 
I got up from that thing 

[Points to throne] 
to stretch my limbs, and everybody melted away. Oh, 
how astonished I was! Ha! Ha! Ha! Do you 
know, the only way I can reconcile myself to all this 
literally religious ceremonial, is by reminding myself 
I don't really exist. 

DUKE D'A. 

What! You've melted away, too? 

QUEEN 

As Queen I mean, I don't exist — any more than 
dryads and naiads in ancient Greence. They repre- 
sented the spirit of Nature, and I represent the spirit 
132 



of Valdania — it Is themselves my people adore In 
me, the greatness of their own history, their heroic 
past What are you smiling at? 

DUKE D'A. 

At your taking them seriously. It's their greatness 
that doesn't exist. 

QUEEN 

Oh surely! A thousand years of national his- 
tory ! 

DUKE D'A. 

Of natural history — animal squabbles and supersti- 
tions. No art, no letters, nothing. A pity Italy has 
never annexed us. 

QUEEN 

That at least I shall not take seriously. I know what 
a devoted Regent you made ! 

DUKE D'A. 

Oh yes, I could do my royal mumming with a grave 
face. But I had my royal robe cut with a specially 
large sleeve — to laugh In ! 

QUEEN 

Then why did you cry at my coronation? 

DUKE D'A. 

That's another matter. The Incense got Into my eyes. 
133 



And there was the organ music, the lovely hand hold- 
ing the sceptre, the ecstatic face 

QUEEN 

I didn't feel ecstatic, I assure you. When the car- 
dinal dumped the crown on my head, it felt like a 
cold iron clamp : the weight of responsibility turned me 
sick. I nearly fainted. And oh, how scared I was 
when I woke up this morning and remembered I had 
to read Cazotti's speech before all those great minis- 
ters and officials ! The dawn was just breaking over 
the mountains. Have you ever watched the dawn? 

DUKE D'A. 

Only in landscape-painting. 

QUEEN 

Don't jest. It was so beautiful as to be terrible — like 
God burning over the virgin snows. And below slept 
the city — a luminous twinkling network; like a second 
starry heaven. Ah, how I prayed to be worthy of 
my people's trust! And then there came into my 
head all that Valdania lacks and I resolved to put into 
the speech the things Cazotti had so strangely for- 
gotten. 

DUKE D'A. 

A very dangerous resolve, my dear, for both of us. 

QUEEN 

Do be serious, Duke. 

134 



DUKE D'A. 

I'm as serious as the Duchess. Queens who say things 
out of their own heads are apt to lose them. You are 
moving in a world of pitfalls and politicians. Be con- 
tent to charm the Court and give the people a vision. 
Neither you nor I were meant for Blue Books. 

QUEEN 

You say that ! You who are always so interested In 
bridges and canals! 

DUKE D'A. 

When you speak of them. I watch your lovely lips 
like a deaf man. 

QUEEN 
Oh! 

[Rises indignantly.] 

DUKE D'A. [Sitting stoutly] 

Does that mean I am to melt away? But you see I 

exercise the privilege of the D'Azollos. 

QUEEN 

You do yourself injustice. What about the day we 
saw all those crude floating bridges? Didn't you ex- 
plain to me that they made the river unnavlgable and 
shipping Impossible? 

DUKE D'A. 

I meant how delightful It Vv^as to escape the penny 

steamboats that have ruined Venice. 

135 



QUEEN [Collapses into chair] 
Oh! 

DUKE D'A. 

That's right! 

QUEEN 

But the day our car stuck in the river-swamp. You 
showed me how on the Bosnavinian bank there were 
flourishing cities, while on our own side only millions 
of reeds and willows 

DUKE D'A. 

Precisely. Picturesqueness plus immunity from in- 
vasion. 

QUEEN 

Invasion! Why should Bosnavina invade us? 

DUKE D'A. 

To anticipate our invading them, of course. Don't 
they hold a province of ours? 

QUEEN 

If we drained that marshland, we'd gain a finer pro- 
vince than we lost. Besides, all that was before you 
were born. 

DUKE D'A. 

Nations have long memories as asses have long ears. 
Aren't you still called "Duchess of Bosnavina," though 
we haven't set foot there since the Middle Ages. 
Everybody knows the Revenge is inevitable. 
136 



QUEEN [Springing up again.] 
I will not hear of it! 

[He rises too.] 
I shall formally renounce the title. The Bosnavinian 
Ambassador specially congratulated me at the Corona- 
tion and said that Peace was Bosnavina's supreme 
interest. 

DUKE D'A. 

And yet you are not uneasy? 

QUEEN [Moves from him] 

You men are all so cynical. You base politics on hate. 

Why do you never try Christian love ? 

DUKE D'A. 

I suppose because, like radium, it can only be got in 
minute quantities. Besides, one can't turn one's other 
cheek to a mosquito. 

QUEEN 

The Bosnavinians are not mosquitoes, but children 
of God like ourselves. And you call yourself a 
Christian! 

DUKE D'A. 

I? Aren't you mixing me up with the Baron? The 
Church is only a State form — like your washing of the 
beggars' feet at Easter — after they had been soaped 
and scented! I never even thought there could be a 
God till you incarnated. 
137 



QUEEN 

Now you are blasphemous ! 

DUKE D'A. 

Religious, my dear, for the first time. When you 
talked of God burning over the virgin snows, I felt 
like one of our mountain-roads after a thaw, that 
keep miraculously amid their slush some little patch of 
purity. Have your way! I'll go and study canals till 
I die of rheumatism and boredom. 

QUEEN [Holding out hand impulsively'] 

Oh, thank you ! No 

[Laughingly] 

I don't mean you're to die. Ha! Ha! Ha! 

[He is kissing her hand and she is laughing, when 
a sudden shattering explosion vibrates through the 
Palace. They start apart.] 

What's that? 

[A brief pause. Then the DUCHESS and COURTIERS 
run in pell-mell from L., some of the ladies caught 
in the middle of their toilettes, the countess 
CAZOTTI without her wig, revealing a comical grey 
head. The duchess comes to nestle against her 
husband. ROXO and CAZOTTI rush in together, 
GRIPSTEIN in their rear.] 

ROXO 

Ah, the Queen's safe! 

CAZ. 

Thank God! 
138 



BARON GR. 

A thousand candles to Our Lady! 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

But what is it? What has happened? 

DUKE D'A. 

Nothing to go grey about! 

[The COUNTESS claps her hand to her head and 
runs back L.] 

DUCHESS D'A. 

One for the crown. Thank you, dear! 

ROXO [To the queen] 

The fireworks stored up for to-night must have gone 

off in the vault. 

QUEEN 

I'm sure it's a bomb. I heard one once in New 



CAZ. [Hastily] 

Forgive my interrupting you, Madam. But Fiuma is 

investigating. 

QUEEN 

I hope to God nobody is hurt. . . . Ah! 

[marquis fiuma enters R. and whispers to ROXO.] 
Always these whisperings ! Report to me, Fiuma. A 
bomb, Is it not? 

FIUMA 

No, Your Majesty, only a hand-grenade. 

139 



QUEEN 

Anybody hurt? 

ROXO [Answering quickly] 

One man killed, Madam — Corporal Vanni ! 

QUEEN [fVincing] 

Oh! . . . Not the Corporal I just spoke to? 

ROXO 

I'm afraid it is. 

QUEEN [Overwhelmed] 

And he said to me as he went out, "God bless you !" 

ROXO 

A gross breach of discipline ! And I gather that he 
owes his death to a still grosser breach. It seems he 
fished up the grenade from the Piazza, thinking the 
tin held food, and, being Interrupted, put it in his 
pocket and forgot all about it, till taking it out just 
now 

QUEEN 

Poor creature I 

BARON GR. 

But he was standing just here, General; we might any 
of us have been killed. 

ROXO 

Precisely. 

140 



BARON GR. 
Hear, O Israel! 

QUEEN 

But what demon ? 

ROXO 

Marrobio, Madam. 

QUEEN 

Marrobio. And who Is Marrobio? 

CAZ. 

The brute you spoke of pardoning. 

QUEEN 

The Moslem rebel? But what can be his motive? 

ROXO 

It's a sort of Holy War he preaches. His followers 

believe he bears a charmed life. 

QUEEN 

Why was I not told about him? Have you ever 
spoken to him? 

ROXO 

Not since he was a boy. He was — about the Palace. 

QUEEN 

Then my parents knew him? 
141 



ROXO [Embarrass ed'\ 
Er — possibly . . . 

[Cries of "Margherita'^ "Margherita" break 

dully from without.^ 
But the people are calling for Your Majesty. 

QUEEN 

What, again? 

CAZ. 

They want to see for themselves you are safe. 

QUEEN 

What do I matter, when that poor Corporal ? 



DUKE D'A. 

Come, Madam, it will relieve them. 

ROXO [To FIUMA] 

Not a word about the wounded! 

[The DUKE opens the casement L., and leads her 
on to the balcony. The reception is more delirious 
than ever. The crowd starts singing the National 
Anthe?n.] 

QUEEN [Coming in, shaken] 
It is really very sweet of them! 

[Cries of ''Marrohio! Marrobiof" now resound 

from the Piazza.] 
What do they want now? 

FIUMA 

To lynch Marrobio. 

142 



QUEEN 

How horrible! It's like the South ! 

[Stops herself abruptly.] 
But you won't give him up? 

ROXO 

No, Madam, we can do our own lynching. 

QUEEN 

Not without trial? 

ROXO 

He'll be lucky if it's without torture. 

QUEEN 

You never torture, surely? 

ROXO 

Only to get a confession. And this man has publicly 

harried Your Majesty's forces for five years. 

QUEEN 

Where have you put him? 

ROXO 

For the moment in the Palace dungeon. 

QUEEN 

Has the Palace a dungeon? 

ROXO 

Naturally. 
143 



QUEEN 

How strange ! Things going on around and under- 
neath and one knows nothing. Just bring him up a 
moment. 

ROXO 

I beg Your Majesty's pardon? 

QUEEN 

I want to see this Marrobio. 

ROXO 

To see him? A rebel who tried to blow up your 
Palace? 

QUEEN 

And you are surprised I want to ask him why? 

ROXO 

To ask him why? 

QUEEN 

Yes, don't you think it's best to talk things out? 
You have never spoken to him since he was a boy. 

ROXO 

But this is unheard-of. The Queen cannot come in 
contact with criminals. It is not her sphere. 

QUEEN 

Whose sphere, then? 
144 



ROXO 

The Law's. 

QUEEN 

But am / not the Law? Don't all your legal docu- 
ments begin "The Queen versus " ? 

ROXO 

That Is a mere State form. 

QUEEN 

A form! A form! The Church! The Law! Every- 
thing to you men is a form. But don't you see that 
here — for once — it is a reality? The Queen versus 
Marrobio! Even a private plaintiff may see the de- 
fendant — the Queen has less rights than her meanest 
subject. 

CAZ. 

Infinitely greater rights, Madam. She has the pre- 
rogative of pardon. 

QUEEN 

And why should I pardon without enquiry? Let the 
man be brought at once. 

DUKE D'A. 

You are overwrought, Madam. The explosion 



QUEEN 

Let me be left with General Roxo ! 

[duke bows. COURTIERS beffiti to melt away.] 
145 K 



DUCHESS D'A. 

Your toilette, Madam. 

QUEEN [Stamping foot] 

Let me be left with General Roxo ! 

CAZ. [To FIUMA] 

Tito's daughter begins to peep out. 

[To QUEEN.] 
I hope I may stay, too. Your Majesty raises a serious 
constitutional question. 

QUEEN 

Ah, you must be two to one. Take the Marquis, take 
the Baron. Be four to one! 
[Throws her roses away.] 

FIUMA 

If Your Majesty will excuse me, I must see to my 
casualties — my corporal. 
[Bows and exit R.] 

BARON GR. [Fery upset] 

Please don't count me against you. Madam. 

QUEEN 

You treat me as a divinity, yet the first simple thing I 
ask of you, you refuse me. It's the same when I want 
to talk to somebody on our drives — my ladies always 
object to this or that — I begin to think you all have 
something to hide from me. Why are you hiding this 
Marrobio? 
146 



ROXO 

Not hiding him, Madam. But It is utterly unprece- 
dented that a sovereign 

QUEEN 

The rulers of Israel always spoke with the enemy in 
the gate. And didn't King Solomon judge cases him- 
self? Am I not right, Baron? 

BARON GR. 

Oh, please, I'm no authority on ancient history. 

QUEEN 

I only want to know why he tries to kill me. 

CAZ. 

But we know quite well, Your Majesty. He wants to 
rule Valdania, he and his fellow-Mussulmans. 

QUEEN 

On what ground? 

CAZ. 

He pretends they are the largest sect. 

QUEEN 

And isn't it true? 

CAZ. 

Er — in a way. 

QUEEN 

Then it's not so unreasonable. 

147 



BARON GR. 

But we Christians united 

CAZ. 

And even if they were an absolute majority, we can't 
submit to a degraded population whose children are 
educated by slaves; to tyrants who, when they did rule, 
seized the peasants' crops and wanted to abolish even 
our Latin alphabet. Have you ever been in the Mos- 
lem quarter? 

QUEEN 

My ladies always objected. 

DUCHESS D'A. [JFho has lingered anxiously'] 
Forgive me. Madam, but your toilette. 

ROXO {Looks at his wrist-watch] 

I implore Your Majesty — there's only a quarter of 

an hour to the Banquet. 

QUEEN 

Then why waste time? 

CAZ. 

After all, General, where's the harm? 

ROXO [Jt white heat] 

Because you let your speech be altered, you think 

[Almost apoplectic.] 
But military procedure is sacred! 
148 



QUEEN 

Oh, very well. 

CAZ. AND BARON GR. 

Thank you, Madam. 

QUEEN [Goin^ L.] 

I shall not appear at the Banquet. 

ROXO [Gasping] 
Not appear? 

QUEEN 

I am only a State form. The Duchess can receive for 
me. 

DUCHESS D'A. [Upset] 
But what can I say? 

QUEEN 

That I have caught your headache. 

[The DUCHESS winces, bows and retires in a rage.] 

ROXO [Abruptly] 
Have your way, Madam. 

CAZ. AND BARON GR. 
Thank you, General. 

QUEEN 

Thank you. 
149 



ROXO 

But first we'll have the guard in — and doubled. 

QUEEN [Dismayed] 

Oh, but I can't talk before others. Which is the way 

to the dungeon? 

ROXO 

Go down that slimy staircase ! In that dress I I'll 

send for him. 

QUEEN 

But I must see him alone. 

ROXO 

See Marrobio alone ! I shall resign first. 

QUEEN [In consternation] 
But why? 

ROXO 

I am responsible for Your Majesty's safety. 

QUEEN 

And allowed a grenade in my guard's pocket. 

[He winces.] 
No, I beg your pardon. But you must let me protect 
myself. 

[Smiles winningly.] 

ROXO [Mastering himself] 

You shall see him alone. But on my conditions. 

150 



QUEEN 

Name them. 

ROXO 

That Marrobio is lashed to this pillar. 

[Points R.] 
That you sit on your throne and approach no nearer. 
That the guards be doubled at each entrance. That 
the interview last five minutes. 

QUEEN 
Ten. 

ROXO [Shozving wrist-watch] 
Five. 

QUEEN 

Very well. 

ROXO 

And while Marrobio is being — prepared for the in- 
terview — may I suggest that Your Majesty's toi- 
lette ? 

QUEEN [Sutiling] 
How practical! 

[Bewitchingly.] 
No wonder you win wars. 

[roxo bows and hurries out R.] 

BARON GR. 

O, Madam, may I have the honour of escorting you? 
151 



[Parts the hangings and shouts pompously] 
Way for the Queen! 
[Exeunt L.] 

CAZ. [PFhistling] 

Whew! What a vixen! 

[JValks about in perturbation, surveys throne, 
bites his nails, then trims them nervously with a 
little pocket-knife.'] 

I wonder how it feels! 

[Perches uneasily on the throne and darts of at 
the sound of Roxo returning R. Enter ROXO with 
a squad of soldiers carrying ropes; amid them 
MARROBIO stands, smiling disdainfully, a superb 
type of Oriental manhood in green turban and 
robes, with a touch of the Prophet and something 
of the King. The soldiers begin to rope him to 
the marble pillar. CAZOTTI approaches cau- 
tiously.] 

MARRO. [With a terrible glance] 

Ah, Cazotti, Fate entwines our paths again. 

CAZ. [Shrinking back] 

Why haven't you handcuffed him? 

MARRO. 

Handcuff me!! 

ROXO 

Rebel as he is, he is a soldier — and of the blood! 

152 



CAZ. 

But he is serpent and tiger in one — have a care ! 

ROXO 

Don't be alarmed. His day is done. 

MARRO. 

Says the poet: Even when dry — The fish cannot die — 
Unless willed from on high. 

CAZ. 

We shall see. 

MARRO. 

If Allah willed it, so be it. The mantle of life, 
Cazotti, is not always the cloak of honour. 

[Closing his eyes, he repeats piously] 
La Ilaha ilia Allah Muhammad Rasul Allahi! 

[fVith a sudden bound he has escaped from his 
captors, almost overwhelming CAZOTTi and is 
nearly L. when, aroused by the shouts, the other 
set of GUARDS from L. corridor rush through the 
curtains and hurl themselves at him. Even so, he 
is not easily overpowered, and some are about to 
use their scimitars.'] 

ROXO 

No, no! Not steel! 

MARRO. [Ceasing to struggle as suddenly and fold- 
ing his arms with a smile] 
Said I not the fish would live? 

153 



CAZ. 

Only that Her Majesty may gaze on you. 

MARRO. [Turning fierce again] 

To gloat over me? May a div prick the eyes from 

her unveiled visage ! 

[He stands passive now, with smouldering eyes, 
while they drag him back to the pillar and lash 
him afresh. ROXO bends to look at the cords.] 

Back, magician, would you breathe on the knots? 

ROXO 

Fudge ! I'm only inspecting them. One, two, three, 
four, five, six, seven, eight, nine. The devil himself 
could not get out of that. 

MARRO. 

The Prophet was tied with eleven knots, yet he had 
but to recite the last eleven verses of the Ku'ran. 

ROXO 

Recite away! To your stations! 

[Soldiers exeunt, both ways. To CAZOTTi] 
Would you mind receiving Her Majesty? The poor 
wounded are asking for me. 

CAZ. 

There arc wounded? 

ROXO 

Four, including the Corporal. 

154 



MARRO. 

Ha ! Allah Is just. 

CAZ. 

I thought the Corporal was dead. 

ROXO 

He may yet live. 
[Hastens out R.] 

MARRO. [Uplifted] 
It is an oracle ! 

[He rises his eyes heavenward and commences 

murmuring his prayer.] 
I put my trust in the God of the daybreak, 
To deliver me from the evils which He hath created, 
From the mischief of the moon when she is covered 

with darkness, 
From the malevolence of those who breathe upon 

knots, 
And from the 

[CAZOTTI, who has been walking up and down 

ponderingly, now stops suddenly at the pillar.] 

CAZ. [In a hoarse whisper] 

Would you like revenge and a fighting chance? 

MARRO. 

Hell mocks the mocker. 

[Murmurs on.] 
I put my trust In the God of mankind 

155 



CAZ. 

But listen! If I cut your knots, will you swear never 
to betray or injure me? 

MARRO. [Looks piercingly at him] 

Ha ! Your fingers, too, thirst for her throat. 

CAZ. 

Hush ! Swear ! 

MARRO. [Solemnly raising! his eyes] 
Aksamtu Billahi! 

CAZ,. [Sawing at first knot] 

Ah, they're tough. But it's best not to cut them 

quite. You can seize your moment for springing 

at her. And then — the balcony! You know the 

Palace. 

MARRO. [With eyes heavenward] 
Allah answers the prayer of the faithful. 

[As CAZOTTI cuts.] 

One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . 
six . . . seven . . . eight . . . nine ! Leave the 
knife ! 

CAZ. 

No ! Look above the throne I 

MARRO. 

Ah, the sword of Alpastroom! Allah is great! 
156 



CAZ. 

May He prosper your hand! . . . Ho there! 
Guards! 

[They appear at both wings. MARROBIO still 

seems tied to his pillar.^ 
Keep your eye on the wretch while I inform 

GENTLEMAN USHER [Parting hangings L.] 
Way for the Queen! 

CAZ. 

Ah, she is here. 

[Enter QUEEN, her hair dressed for the Banquet.'] 

QUEEN 

Ah, thank you, Cazotti. See these men are withdrawn 
— far — beyond eavesdropping. 

CAZ. 

Under protest. Madam. 

[Waves GUARDS hack R. and L. Goes L. himself 
toward QUEEN, who seats herself on the throne.] 

You see I fulfill the conditions ! 

[cazotti bows very low and exits through the 
hangings L. The queen and MARROBIO look at 
each other, she with curiosity, and impressed; he, 
tense, with glittering eyes, a wild beast crouched 
for the spring. She is the first to break the thrill- 
ing silence.] 

So you are Marrobio! 

157 



MARRO. 

And you are Margherita ! 

QUEEN 

I wished to see you. 

MARRO. 

You repaid my compliment. I left my mountains to 
see you. 

QUEEN 

And to murder me. 

MARRO. 

With Allah's help ! 

QUEEN [Shrinks back] 
You glory in it! 

MARRO. 

Even though I sup to-night in Paradise. 

QUEEN 

I came in the hope of saving your life. But this tone 
on the brink of death 

MARRO. 

Death is as near to your throne, Margherita, as to my 
pillar. 

QUEEN 

I know we are all in the hands of God, but remember 
you are likewise In the hands of my ministers. 

158 



MARRO. 

When the cock crows, the eagle swoops. Allah can 
change night to day, says the Book, and day to night. 

[Glares bale fully at her, begins to wriggle at the 

cut ropes.] 
He can bring life from the bosom of death and death 
from the bosom of life. 

QUEEN 

But it is you who have brought death into this Palace. 
Why? Why? 

MARRO. 

It is a Jihad, a holy war. Kill your foes, says the 
Prophet. Bathe yourselves in their blood. 

QUEEN 

How horrible! Is that the law of Islam? 

MARRO. 

And is it not the law of Roxo? Whence comes his 
glory save from slaying thousands? 

QUEEN 

In fair fight and with fair weapons. 

MARRO. 

No fight can be fair, no weapon unfair. Ma sha'llah! 
You to condemn Islam — you with your peace-trap ! 

QUEEN 

My peace-trap? 

159 



MARRO. 

Your proclamation of amnesty. My lieutenant sur- 
rendered and you butchered him. 

QUEEN 

It is not true ! 

MARRO. 

You lie ! She-dragon with the eyes of a gazelle ! It 
was your Coronation sacrifice to your God. 

QUEEN 

I swear by your God — by Allah 



MARRO. 

Astaghfir Allah! Profane not his name ! It may be 
they hid their infamy, for your eyes seem wells of 
truth and your eyelids flutter like the wings of a love- 
bird. But what of my brothers driven to baptism 
or the shambles — the veils torn from our women — 
the ? 

QUEEN 

By whom? When? 

MARRO. 

Through the ages. Only Da Pletra knew tolerance. 
And him you Christians murdered. 

QUEEN 

But they tell me you Moslems ruled even worse — you 

seized our peasants' crops, you 

1 60 



iMARRO. 

Somebody must pay the taxes. But we did not force 
our faith by the sword. 

QUEEN 
Mahomet did. 

MARRO. 

Muhammad was God's messenger. He was later than 
Moses or Jesus — the seal of the Prophets. But Satan 
is goading humanity to destroy us. The Cross spreads 
its giant arms over the firmament and the Crescent 
dwindles like a dying moon. 

QUEEN 

Because you misgovern! You don't catch up with 
Western civilisation. 

MARRO. 

Western civilisation ! When the Westernmost Conti- 
nent has only just caught up with our ban on the 
wine-cup. Western civilisation ! Have you ever vis- 
ited our quarter? 

QUEEN 

My ladies objected. 

MARRO. 

No wonder. There you would have found no rowdy 
streets filled with reeling wine-skins and unveiled 
females, no noisy hawkers and shop-keepers, no cham- 

l6l L 



bers open to the public gaze, only our cobblers and 
coffee-stall keepers on their carpets, never a knife 
raised, nor a voice, save that of the muezzin calling to 
prayer or the school-children chanting the Ku'ran. 
Cleanness of soul and body, charity, hospitality, love 
of our neighbour, equal chances for the poorest . . . 
And we are the Gadarean swine that must be driven 
out of Europe ! Ah, but Allah is merciful and He has 
set your hands in murder against one another, and 
the sun of civilisation that rose in the East is setting in 
blood in the West and must rise again in glory in its 
ancient quarter! 

[He ends ecstatic, transfigured.] 

QUEEN 

If what you say is true, we have both to learn from 
each other. In any case this feud of Cross and Cres- 
cent can have no foothold in Valdania. Does not our 
proverb say: 

Moslem, Christian, Jew, or other, 
Every Valdanian is my brother? 

MARRO. 

Your brother? Ha! Ha! Ha! But I am your 

brother. 

QUEEN [Puzzled] 
You my brother? 

MARRO. 

Have they hidden that, too ? 

162 



QUEEN 

They have hidden something. Just now when I 
pressed the Duchess, she 

MARRO. 

You did not know I am King Tito's son? 

QUEEN 

You? My mother had a son also? 

MARRO. 

Your mother? Nay, my mother, Zarah, peace be to 
her. She was kicked away Hke an old Turkish slipper 
when policy brought a Northern princess here. 

QUEEN 

My father was married twice? 

MARRO. 

Nay, nor to two women at once, my guileless gazelle. 
The pleasures which Allah in His mercy has per- 
mitted the faithful are not enjoyed by the infidel — 
openly. Nor could my mother, peace to her, consent 
to marry a Nazarene. I am merely King Tito's 
eldest-born. . . . Ah, you start back. But the name 
wherewith you Christians brand Innocent offspring Is 
an Infamy unknown to Islam. 

QUEEN {Slowly^ 

Then — Is It you who should be ruling here? 

MARRO. 

Nay, nay, If I rule here, It will be by the sword. 
163 



QUEEN 

But what need of the sword, brother? I would gladly 
surrender the throne. 

MARRO. [Dazed] 
Yallah! You say? 

QUEEN 

If it is yours morally. If God released me. Your 
shoulders are broad — it is all too terrible and tangled 
for a girl. I would rather make my music. 

MARRO. 

JVallahi! You make music, indeed. It is like the sing- 
ing of bulbuls in my heart. What manner of Christian 
are you who talk like a Muslim? 

QUEEN 

I only talk like every other Christian. 

MARRO. 

By the beard of the Prophet, I have talked with arch- 
bishops and archimandrites, patriarchs and cardinals, 
but never heard I talk like this. Ya Walad! You 
would resign your throne to the spawn of Tito, the 
rebel, the murderer awaiting the gibbet? 

QUEEN 

If he would repent, if he would render equal justice 
to Moslem and Christian? 

MARRO. 

It is as if the air were full of the perfume of myrrh 
164 



and rosewater. But do you imagine, O daughter of 
innocence, that if you yield up that throne, your fellow 
Christians would set me upon it? 

QUEEN 

I could point out to them that your sect is the largest, 
and that on the principle of self-determination 

MARRO. 

Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! If I did not know you were my 

father's daughter, I should say you were an American. 

QUEEN [Startled] 
An American? 

MARRO. 

Was there not a great white prophet whose rumour 
reached even to my mountains? We deemed him a 
second Muhammad, for through him should the 
People of the Book find justice. But what was the 
end of the matter? We are as frogs whose pond is 
dried up ! The Sheikh-ul-Islam is dishonoured, the 
very capital of our faith in the hands of the Kafirin! 
Ah! 

[JVith renewed fierceness.'] 
What proof have I that you, too, are not a snake 
whose slaver is steeped in honey? 

QUEEN [Sadly] 

Ah, / believe you. But you will not believe me. 

MARRO. 

Quoth Lukman the Wise: "Learn from the blind, who 
165 



believe only what they touch." If you speak truth, 
my sister, come and cut my cords. 

QUEEN 

I have nothing to cut with. 

MARRO. 

There is a sword over your head. 

QUEEN {Looking up] 
That old thing! 

MARRO. 

It will be sharp enough. 

[The QUEEN stands on the throne and manages to 
pull the sword out of its scabbard. She gets 
down and begins to move forzvard.] 

QUEEN 

Oh, but I can't leave my throne — I promised my min- 
isters. 

MARRO. [Derisively] 

Ha ! Ha ! And you offered to leave it for me. Luk- 

man was wise Indeed. 

QUEEN 

His wisdom was blind. 

[Calls towards hangings.] 

166 



Ho there ! Is there a chamberlain or squire on 
service? 

[CAZOTTI answers the call; evidently he has been 

on tenterhooks. '\ 

CAZ. 

Can I do anything, Your Majesty? I have been so 
anxious. 

\_Startled.'\ 
You have drawn the sword of Alpastroom ! 

QUEEN 

To cut Marrobio's cords. 

{Hands it to him. He takes it dazedly."] 

CAZ. 

/ am to cut Marrobio's cords? 

QUEEN 

If you please. 

\^The two men's eyes meet. CAZOTTI walks slowly 
and nervously and pretends to slash at the already 
cut knots.] 

MARRO. [Counting as before] 

One . . . two . . . three . . . four . . . five . . . 

six . . . seven . . . eight . . . nine. 

[He throws of the ropes with a tigerish move- 
ment, and drags the sword from. CAZOTTl's hand. 
CAZOTTI recoils instinctively. MARROBIO slozvly 
walks over to the QUEEN, who awaits him, smiling. 
As he reaches the dais, and sees she does not flinch, 

167 



he prostrates himself at her feet, his head in the 
dust, his sword spread out on the floor.'] 
My sovereign! 

QUEEN 

Rise, my brother! 

MARRO. [Rising] 

This sword that cut my bonds has cut a covenant 
'twixt me and you. Henceforth it shall be sacred for 
the defence of Your Majesty's friends, for the de- 
struction of Your Majesty's foes. 

QUEEN [Rising from the throne] 
Give me the scabbard! 

[marrobio mounts dais and easily reaches the 
scabbard. He shows the queen an inscription on 

it, and she girds the sword on him. While the 

two are thus absorbed at L., ROXO enters hurriedly 

R., holding out his wrist-watch.] 

CAZ. [JFho has remained R.] 

Say nothing! Marrobio is won over! 

ROXO [Staring] 
Is it possible? 

CAZ. 

Ay, and by giving him the command against Bosna- 
vina, we get two of your points in one. Then with 
Gripstein supplying the money, and you at the War 

Office 

1 68 



ROXO 

Ah, but the fifth point? How make Bosnavina de- 
clare war? 

CAZ. [Picking up the mass of cords] 
Trust Providence to cut that knot too. 

[Beckoning he throws the cords to a GUARD espied 

QUEEN 

Now you are girded, 

[Turns, perceiveS' ROXO.] 
Prince Marrobio has consented to stay for the Ban- 
quet — he will, of course, have the place of honour. 

ROXO 

But, Madam ! 



QUEEN 

Silence! I will hear no more of your miserable objec- 
tions. I have done more in five minutes to bring peace 
than you in five years. 

{Turns her back on him and mounts haughtily to 

her throne.] 

ROXO [To CAZOTTI] 

It Is intolerable. I shall resign. 

CAZ. [Smiling] 

Naturally. To go to the War Office. For, fifthly and 

finally 

169 



ROXO [In a low, awestruck voice] 

You are right. She gives a bastard Mussulman the 

place of Prince Condrexoulok. It is the finger of 

God. 

GENTLEMAN USHER [Appearing R.] 
Is Your Majesty ready to receive? 

QUEEN 

Quite. 

[To MARROBIO, who begins to move down.] 
Remain at my right hand, brother. 

[Curtain] 



170 



Act III 

[The Throne Room in the San Marco Palace as he- 
fore, save that a fire of logs is burning on the great 
hearth and two captured Bosnavinian flags hang on 
the wall in place of the sword of Alpastroom, and 
if ever the casement is opened, the mountains are 
seen snowy to their base. At a table drawn up 
near the fire, the DUCHESS d'azolla and various 
MAIDS OF HONOUR are making bandages. They are 
drably attired: some in mourning, and one in the 
Red Cross costume. At R. the old line of smart, 
stalwart soldiers is replaced by a collection of aged 
or decrepit civilians in ill-fitting uniforms, under 
CORPORAL VANNI, now minus his right arm. For 
an instant the ladies zvork in silence, then faintly 
through the closed casement comes the high clear 
cry of the muezzin from the nearest minaret.^ 

MUEZZIN [From afar] 

Allah Akbar la ila ha ilia Allah . . . 

[Two of the soldiers prostrate themselves.] 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Fifteen o'clock by the minaret. 

[Rising.] 
I am afraid we oughtn't to waste these candles, and 
we shall spoil our eyes if we work much longer. 

[As the ladies gather up the work, a church-bell 

chimes three.] 
Put back the table, Corporal. 
171 



VANNI [Motioning to his men to obey] 
I have only one arm now, Your Highness. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Ah, poor fellow. I hope it's not paining you. 

VANNI 

Not when I look at those captured flags and my 

brother-in-law's letter. 

DUCHESS D'A. [Eagerly] 
From the front? 

VANNI 

Yes, but I never found it till I came out of hospital 

this morning. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Ah, then the news will be stale. Thank you. 
[Exit with ladies L.] 

VANNI [Prodding the praying Mussulmans with his 

foot] 
That's enough, you holy fakirs. 

[Goes and opens casement R.] 

Br-r-r! Come along, you stinking Pacifist. 

[VITTORIO, a decrepit-looking old soldier with a 
scholarly face, comes in, blowing his fingers.] 
Hurry up, Abdullah, or I'll catch my death. 

[Oiie of the Moslem goes out to replace the 

guard.] 
You know what you have to look out for — the Rol- 
172 



menian envoy — blue and gold uniform, white cocked 

hat. 

[Closes casement.] 

Atschew ! Hi there ! 

[To VITTORIO, who has sneaked to warm his fin- 
ders at the fire.] 

Get to your rank, you swine. 

VITTORIO 

I won't be called a swine. 

VANNI 

Silence, or I'll rip you up like one, you black-snouted 
son of a sow. You're a pro-Bosni, that's what you 
are, a beastly Bolshevist. D'you think I haven't heard 
of the sing-song you wrote about brotherhood? 
Brotherhood with Bosni butchers! Ugh! Stand at 
attention, you spy! 

VITTORIO 

I am a gentleman and I shall complain to the War 

Office. 

VANNI 

Gentleman! You're lucky to be conscripted and get 
decent rations, when other gentlefolk are glad of dry 
barley-bread. Ah, here comes the War Office. Com- 
plain, if you dare ! 

[Enter general roxo R., with a portfolio under 
his only arm. Salute. He is not wearing his dec- 
orations and walks bent and tottering — VITTORIO 
steps from the ranks, hesitates, ROXO disappears.] 
173 



VANNI [Mockingly] 

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! 

VITTORIO 

It's only because he looks so broken. 

VANNI 

Broken, you beastly defeatist! It's his arm worrying 
him, that's all. I'd gladly give him mine, only then 
he'd have two lefts and that wouldn't be right. 

SOLDIERS [In parasitic laughter] 
Ha! Ha! Ha! Good! 

VANNI 

Have I made a joke? Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! 
[roxo re-appears L. Laughter frozen.] 

ROXO 

I nearly forgot. Corporal. Where is your look-out? 

VANNI 

On the balcony, my General. 

ROXO 

You lie I 

VANNI 

No, my General! 

ROXO 

I beg your pardon. But how was it when I looked up 

from the Piazza ? 

174 



VANNI 

We were just changing the guard. 

ROXO 

Aha! So you did leave the Piazza unwatched! 

VANNI 

Only for an instant. 

ROXO 

In that instant the Rolmenian envoy might have driven 
up. The new look-out must mount guard before the 
old is relieved. 

VANNI 

Yes, my General. 

[Exit ROXO.] 
Ah, he is a wonderful man. Nothing escapes him. 
The comrades in the hospital chaffed me about copying 
his arm. But Dio, If I could copy his brain. Cristo! 
The way he manoeuvred the Bosnis into our river- 
marshes, while he rushed across and took Ripo ! 

VITTORIO 

That was Marrobio. 

VANNI 

Yes, but where did the strategy come from? Dio, if I 
could have heard 'em screaming and gurgling as they 
sank slowly in the sucking mud! My brother-in-law 
writes you could see hands clawing above the mud 

days after 

175 



VITTORIO [Looking ghastly} 
Don't. 

VANNI 

And what about viy hand that they blew off! Don't 
say that was Marrobio, too. As if our General would 
cripple his own soldiers. No, no — it was one of those 
naturalised Bosnis we so confidingly gave papers to! 
But we've got 'em all interned now, these friends of 
yours, and they'll no more come out alive than out 
of that mud! 

SOLDIERS 
Ha! Ha! Ha! 

VANNI [Beaming] 

Ah, the fun when we took Ripo ! My brother-in-law 
with one bayonet spiked — but read it for yourself, 
Vittorio, rub your nose in it. 

[Forces letter on vittorio, who reads with grow- 
ing horror.] 
And the Bosni women, eh, boys? Some of course 
asked for nothing better. 

[soldiers laugh.] 
Ah, it's a man's life, he says: Why go back to brooch- 
making when you can make necklaces of Bosni ! 

[vittorio falls fainting, the letter gripped in h>s 
hand.] 
Hi! What's this? Get up, you old woman! 

[Spurns him zvith his foot.] 
Time you got your blood-legs ! Attention ! Cover 
him ! 
176 



[The SOLDIERS stand in front of their fallen com- 
rade to conceal him, and CAZOTTI enters R. with 
portfolio, and the same harassed look as ROXO. 
He has nearly crossed the scene when he turns.'] 

CAZ. 

Corporal ! 

VANNI 

Yes, excellency. 

CAZ. 

Should the Rolmenlan envoy arrive while I am at the 
Privy Council 

VANNI 

I am to send him to you — I understand. 

CAZ. 

No, you don't ! And don't have the Impertinence to 
interrupt. 

VANNI [JFith crawling humility] 
A thousand pardons. 

CAZ. 

Her Majesty will be at the Privy Council, and she'd be 
disturbed to see the envoy. The moment your look- 
out espies him, a chamberlain must come and say a 
crisis demands my immediate presence. 

VANNI 

I understand. 

177 M 



CAZ. 

Be careful you do, this time. 

VANNI 

I am careful, excellency. I always post a new look- 
out before the old goes off guard. 

CAZ. 

Admirable! I shall not forget your zeal. But when 
the light on the balcony fails, post him at the Palace- 
gate ! 

VANNI 

Sicuro, excellency. 

[Exit CAZOTTI. The men turn to examine the 

fallen GUARD.] 
Ah, you've come to ! And I suppose you'll be writing 
that we cut off Bosni ears. But it's only trophies to 
bring home to the girls, stupid ! The Bosni officers, 
they slice off the ears of their owrl men to get the 
cowards to advance. Up with you, Vittorio, you'll 
want some fresh air after your faint — get back on 
guard, do you hear? 

[Opens casement.] 
Come along, Abdullah, you're relieved. 

VITTORIO 

And so am I — of such society I 
[Throws letter at him.} 

VANNI 

I'll court-martial you for that! 

178 



[A parasite picks up the letter and hands it to 
VANNI, and the two GUARDS exchange places while 
he is talking on.] 
Corpo di Bacco! There's scarcely a brat of sixteen 
but has got his chance of Bosni-sticking, while I'm 
cooped up here with the queerest collection of crocks 
that ever disgraced Her Majesty's uniform. And any 
day now Marrobio may be looting the Bosni capital. 
Lucky beggars ! Lucky beggars ! 

[Enter colonel the marquis fiuma, haggard like 
the others, his hair lavishly sprinkled with grey; 
crape on his sword and on his arm. Salute.] 

FIUMA 

You know their eminences, the Cardinal and the 
Patriarch? 

VANNI 

Yes, my Colonel — by their holy clothes. They came 

an hour ago. 

FIUMA 

They are not to leave the Palace. 

VANNI 

Prisoners, my Colonel? 

FIUMA 

Oh, no- 



[Smiling sadly] 
Detained at Her Majesty's pleasure. The War 
Office's order, say. They may have to sleep here. 
179 



VANNI 

I will have a watchman posted all night at the Palace- 
gate. 

FIUMA 

Excellent. I shall remember your zeal. 

[Enter L. CAZOTTI in a raging passion, waving a 
newspaper.^ 

CAZ. 

Perdition, Colonel! Is this the way you censor? 
Look at that filthy rag smuggled into the Queen's 
blotter at the Council-Table! 

FIUMA [Taking it] 

The Sera! But this was never submitted to me! 

CAZ. 

Not submitted? Good God! Then it is Revolution! 
Withdraw your men, Corporal, well back! 

VANNI 

Yes, excellency. 

[Signals. They withdraw R.] 

CAZ. 

Read it — read it aloud — the letters dance before my 
eyes. Sit down. 

FIUMA 

I can't sit — oh, excellency, if you knew how it racks 
me to think of my friends — the few not killed — freez- 
ing in Bosnavina, while I in warmth and safety ! 

1 80 



CAZ. 

It's not so blasted warm and it won't be so very safe 
once this wretched article rouses the people. Sit down. 
We need you, Roxo and I. 

[fiuma sits, too, though he soon rises again.'\ 
Ah, I knew something was in the wind — the moment I 
saw coloured rags fluttering on the Moslem houses 
near the railway station. 

FIUMA 

In the wind — is it a pun? 

CAZ. 

Good God, no ! Don't you know the Moslem super- 
stition? Those living near a cemetery always hang 
out bits of cloth. What the scoundrels mean to sug- 
gest is that the station where our soldiers entrain is a 
cemetery. And if they, who are so proud of their 
Marrobio, venture on this rebel sally — no wonder ths 
Christians — but read, read! 

FIUMA 

Headline : "Stop the War" — "Yesterday's Day of In- 
tercession and Prayer for Victory celebrated in all the 
churches, synagogues and mosques of Valdania " 

CAZ. 

Ah, what did I tell Roxo? If you say "God help us," 
people know it's all up. . . . Excuse me. 

FIUMA 

"While it emphasised the unity of the country under 

its unexampled tribulations ..." 

i8i 



CAZ. 

Cut the cackle. Time presses. 

FIUMA 

Er — er — "Eight thousand men have been blinded by 
chips of granite blown off the mountains of Bosnavina, 
but still more tragic is the blinding of the whole peo- 
ple by the Government and the Jew-press." 

CAZ. 

Poor old Baron! 

FIUMA 

"As a matter of fact these first victories have been 
followed by overwhelming defeats. Despite three 
desperate attempts to take the pass — the gallantry of 
which does not compensate for the terrible casualties 
— Marrobio had to retire on Ripo. But the enemy, 
re-pouring through the pass, recaptured the town, and 
now holds us, foodless, frost-bitten and pneumonia- 
ridden, with our backs to the swollen river." 

CAZ. 

Abominable! There must be leakage at the War 
Office. 

FIUMA 

But if it is true ? 



CAZ. 

You, a censor, say that! Truth is always dangerous, 

in war it is suicidal. Is that all? 

182 



FIUMA 

Not quite. "A glance at the uncleared snow in our 
streets will remind our readers that the period of 
mountain fighting is over for the year. Our utmost 
hope, therefore, is to escape annihilation, whether at 
the hands of the enemy or in attempting to regain 
Valdania across the bridgeless flood." The Queen 
was right, you see. If we had built bridges 

CAZ. 

There are so many things the Queen wanted that 
would have come in handy for war. More railways, 
for instance, and if we had had wireless apparatus, we 
shouldn't have been cut off from the front for two days 
by this snowstorm, not to mention we should know 
where the Rolmenian envoy was. But you young 
bloods wouldn't wait! 

FIUMA [Too broken to retort] 
It winds up : "Let us stop the war while some of our 
sons still survive to carry on our ancient valorous 
breed." "Valorous breed!" How these Pacifists con- 
tradict themselves ! 

CAZ. 

It's more important that they contradict us. 

FIUMA 

What's to be done? 

CAZ. 

Roxo is already ordering the arrest of the staff and 
the break-up of the printers' plant. And the Press 
183 



Bureau Is sending out a statement that the retreat was 
strategic, according to plan. 

FIUMA 

But that won't alter the facts. 

CAZ. 

Oh, yes, It will. Facts don't exist till they're believed. 
When the wires are repaired, we may learn the game's 
up. But for the moment we remain unbeaten. 

FIUMA 

Is that all that lies between us and ruin? Roxo was 
so sure Marrobio 

CAZ. 

Even genius can't do the impossible. Marrobio's in- 
vasion of Bosnavina was premature. Roxo, when he 
ordered it, was counting on the two million Valdanians 
there rising up and joining us. 

FIUMA 

But why haven't they, do you suppose? 

CAZ. 

It turns out they have no grievances. 

FIUMA 

No grievances? They weren't martyrised? 

CAZ. 

No — in one thing this rag was right — we were misled 

by the Jew-press. 

184 



FIUMA 

To which you — excuse my reminding you — dictated 
atrocities. 

CAZ. 

I had heard them in my childhood from my grand- 
father. 

FIUMA 

But those false telegrams of yours stirred up reprisals 
against the Bosnavinians here. 

CAZ. 

Yes, they were useful in kindling the war-spirit. But 
they were never meant as data for the War Office. 
Roxo should have checked them. But it is wonderful, 
the power of print. I believed them myself when I 
read them. Even the Baron believes his own papers. 

FIUMA 

Poor Baron ! How marvellously he bears up under 
his bereavements! 

CAZ. [Rising] 

Like Roxo, he trusts in God. But I say, keep your fire- 
works dry. 

[Going L.] 
The Palace must blaze with lights to-night and the 
streets, too. 

FIUMA 

But we may be in darkness next week. 
185 



CAZ. 

No matter. We've got to play for time. The cine- 
mas must show our soldiers escalading the pass. Keep 
the bonfires burning and the rockets always ready. 
[Moving further L.] 

FIUMA 

But ready for what? 

CAZ. [Roguishly] 

Aha! Go along now: you've plenty to see to. I 
thought you knew my motto, "One combination after 
another." By the way, impress upon the telegraph 
people to keep the line to Rolmenia clear. It's a mat- 
ter of life and death. 

FIUMA 

Ah, I can't help seeing your hope lies in Rolmenia. 
But how? Rolmenia is Bosnavina's secret ally. But 
for Bosnavina being the attacker, Rolmenia would 
have had to join her. How, then, can she join usf 

CAZ. [Smiling] 

Ah, that's the puzzle ! 

[Enter ROXO L.] 
You're looking for me? 

ROXO 

I didn't want to go back to the Council before dis- 
cussing what to tell the Queen. She didn't really be- 
lieve your contradiction. 
1 86 



CAZ. 

It was meant only for the rest of the Cabinet. You 
can't trust them, or anyhow their secretaries. But so 
far as she is concerned, this rag may be a blessing — 
make it easier for us. 

ROXO 

You would tell her the whole truth — in her state? 

CAZ. 

The blacker she feels things the better — follow out 
your own combination. 

ROXO 

You are right, as usual. 

CAZ. 

And you were wrong, as usual, to stir up sleeping dogs 
with that Intercession Service. 

ROXO 

At such a critical moment we must go to God. 

CAZ. 

And make it more critical? 

ROXO 

Prayer is a reconciliation with heaven. Not forty per 
cent of our male adults go to Mass. 

CAZ. 

You forget that our leader and our largest sect are 
187 



Mussulmans, and pray five times a day. But if we 
don't get back to the Council, we may find Her 
Majesty has stopped the war. 

ROXO 

I can't smile. It is too serious a possibility. We must 
get the Council over, so as to get to business. 

BARON [Outside R.] 

My poor Corporal, glad to see you back! 

CAZ. 

Ah, I want a word with the Baron. I follow you. 

ROXO 

But I, too, want the Chairman of the Man-Power 

Board. 

[Enter baron, in deep mourning: a broken man.] 

BARON GR. 

Ah, excellencies, was it not beautiful yesterday In the 
cathedral? My slain son, my blinded Sigismondo, my 
wife dead of grief, the whole terrible burden was 
lifted from my heart. I felt the God of Valdania 
would not desert His people. 

ROXO [Grasping his hand] 

Amen. . . . How many more divisions can you 

promise Marroblo? 

BARON GR. 

Not one, alas I 
i88 



ROXO 

You have combed to the last man? 

BARON GR. 

And the last boy. Outside indlspensables the only 
man left under 55 is the Marquis Fiuma. 

ROXO 

For heaven's sake, don't tell him that! 

BARON GR. 

As your excellencies know, I have conscribed all our 
neutrals, though it is against the Constitution. 

CAZ. 

Yes, yes — would you please put all this in writing for 

the Queen? 

BARON GR. [Startled] 
You are telling her the truth? 

CAZ. 

It can't always be avoided. Haven't you seen this? 

BARON GR. [After a hasty glance at paper] 
God of Israel ! . . . I saw great crowds with it, but 
I didn't dare to be seen buying it. . . . But it's not 
true! 

CAZ. 

That's what your papers are going to say. But it is — 

every word. 

189 



BARON GR. 

Our poor Margherita ! Think of the pride and glory 
of the day when as Colonel of the Queen's Hussars 
she bade Godspeed to the army — the cheers, the bells, 
the flowers, the songs, the flags ! How did this horrible 
fiasco come about? 

ROXO 

It's our own Valdanians, Baron, our two million Val- 
danians in Bosnavina, who had forgotten their pa- 
triotism, forgotten their mother tongue, forgotten the 
rock whence they were hewn, who even boast of being 
Bosnavinians. 

BARON GR. 

How horrible! I have Iain awake night after night, 
puzzling how to get more men, but the only thing I 
can think of is mercenaries. There are shoals of 
Italians labourers who go over to America for a sea- 
son. They would be happier fighting. 

CAZ. 

But the money, dear friend, the money? 

BARON GR. 

My last million is freely at your disposal. God knows 
I have little to live for but the glory and happiness of 
my country. 

ROXO {Moved} 

You shall yet witness it. Tell him, Cazotti — tell him 

everything! 

lExit L.] 
190 



BARON GR. [Brightening'] 
There is hope? 

CAZ. 

Yes, but first a httle private business. 

[Lowers voice.'] 
Have you succeeded in depositing my securities? 

BARON GR. 

Yes, with a man in Amsterdam. 

CAZ. 

But is he a Jew? 

BARON GR. [Apologetically] 
I couldn't find anybody else. 

CAZ. 

I wouldn't trust anybody else. 

BARON GR. 

Ha ! He is even a practising Jew — a mediaeval bigot ! 

CAZ. 

Still better. A man who sticks to his religion won't 
stick to my money ! . . . No offence, Baron. Hush, 
here's Fiuma back. So that's understood. 
[Enter fiuma R.] 

FIUMA 

The wires are just mended and the line for Rolmenia 
is clear, subject, of course, to delay at Belgrade. The 
191 



post-offices, they say, are besieged with people de- 
manding to wire to the front. 

QA7.. [Crumpling the newspaper^ 
Ah, the poison works! 

[Enter R., the countess cazotti, tripping it gaily 

in a bewitching nurse's uniform.'] 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

Ah, there you are, you men, gossiping as usual, while 
I'm slaving for our poor wounded. And it's the same 
in the streets, my car had to crawl. Ah, how tired I 
get every evening. 

CAZ. 

But, my dear, the Queen offered to relieve you of your 
duties. 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

As if I would fail Her Majesty! Ah, Baron, you 
don't make enough of us women. There's no Woman- 
Power Board, what? 

FIUMA 

Because the power of woman is incalculable. 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

How charming of you ! But it's just what my patients 
tell me. I'm the only thing, they say, that reconciles 
them to being out of the fighting. 

FIUMA [Exalted] 
They long to be back? 
192 



COUNTESS CAZ. 

They cry if I only mention the trenches! 

FIUMA 

That ought to be stated in the papers, eh, Baron? It 
would give the country a fillip. 

BARON GR. 

I haven't much time for my papers now. But I'll see 

to it. 

COUNTESS CAZ. 

I have seen to it. I've been interviewed in them all. 
Don't you read them? While you cackle, I work. 
"The Queen of Workers" they always put under my 
picture. 

[Enter ROXO excitedly L.] 
Ah, here comes another prattler. Excuse me. Gen- 
eral, I haven't time. 

[Consequential exit L.] 

ROXO 

Guard your Palace, Governor. 

FIUMA 

What has happened. 

ROXO 

Barricade your doors first. 
[fiuma rushes out R.] 
193 N 



CAZ. 

You've left the Council again? 

ROXO 

To call out the troops and the machine guns. The 
printers can't be arrested — the offices are blocked by 
a desperate mob, largely women. 

CAZ. 

Ah, I told Saldo It was a mistake to close the schools 
for the sake of the fuel — the worry of the children, 
taken on the mothers' empty stomachs — ah, listen ! 
[Confused sounds from the Piazza.'] 

ROXO 

They're only In small groups so far — they know meet- 
ings are prohibited. The Piazza is black with dema- 
gogues, each on his tub. 

BARON GR. 

Is It Bolshevism at last? 

ROXO 

Hardly. A few In red caps or cockades. But the 
wearers are aged. 

CAZ. 

It's lucky, Baron, we've no Man-Power left. What? 
[Re-enter FIUMA R.] 

FIUMA 

My men had already done the barricading. There 

was a nasty surge towards the Palace. 

194 



ROXO 

Ah, the groups coalescing. I pray God we shall not 
have to fire on them. 

BARON GR. 

You would fire on your own people? 

ROXO 

I would fire on my own father, If duty demanded. 
May I suggest, Baron, you'd be more useful motoring 
down to your evening paper to hurry up the reassuring 
edition? Interview yourself and say we have a mil- 
lion fresh men. 

BARON GR. 

But what about my statement for Her Majesty? 

CAZ. 

Just write simply: "We have not a single man more." 
[baron hurries off R.] 

ROXO 

He's a good fellow, ■ What would Valdania do with- 
out him? 

CAZ. 

And I haven't told him the real situation after all. 

FIUMA 

Nor me. 

CAZ. 

It's Roxo's combination, not mine. 
195 



ROXO 

The time has come when Her Majesty must know, 
so why not Fiuma? 

CAZ. 

Ha! Ha! Ha! The General has a dry humour 
sometimes. 

FIUMA 

And a leaky humour other times. Sometimes he tells 
me everything, and sometimes nothing. 

ROXO 

It's because you're so sentimental about the Queen. 
We were afraid you'd put a spoke in our wheel. 

FIUMA 

I? When the fate of Valdania ! 

ROXO 

I told you long ago of certain Princes who came to 

the Coronation. 

FIUMA [Bounding] 

Ah, Prince Igmor covets Margherita ! 

ROXO 

Prince Igmor, though the younger son, is his father's 
favourite and the leader of the Rolmenian forces 

CAZ. 

Roxo had already projected disengaging Rolmenia 

from her alliance with Bosnavina 

196 



ROXO 

Bosnavlna, sandwiched between us and Rolmenia, 
would be caught in a vice 

CAZ. 

So imagine Roxo's delight when the Prince began mak- 
ing sheep's eyes at Margherita. 

FIUMA 

Pig's eyes, you mean. I never saw such mean little 
peepers. 

ROXO 

The Prince is an able soldier, but I don't pretend he's 
a beauty. 

FIUMA 

Outrageous ! 

CAZ. 

We knew you'd say that. But your personal feel- 
ings 

FIUMA 

Aly personal feelings? What about the Queen's? 
Do you think she'll look at the little ogre? 

CAZ. 

It's fortunate she didn't. He was whisked back be- 
fore the Coronation Ball by a war-cable. Bosnavina 
was menaced by Poland and under her treaty Rolmenia 
stood to join Bosnavina. 
197 



FIUMA 

And now Rolmenia is to attack Bosnavina! 

CAZ. {^Shriigging his shoulders^ 

The Chasse-Croise of the Dance of Death! 

ROXO 

The menace to Bosnavina petered out, but it left a 
million Rolmenians splendidly strung up for war. 

FIUMA 

And these million men are the price of Margherita ! 

ROXO 

The salvation of Valdanla. 

FIUMA 

How so? Marrobio will be annihilated long before 
Prince Igmor can mobilise. 

ROXO 

Prince Igmor is already mobilised and on the very 
frontier of Bosnavina. 

FIUMA 

And Bosnavina doesn't protest? 

CAZ. [CJiiickllng] 

She thinks he's coming In on her side. 

FIUMA 

Rolmenia and her Prince are a pretty pair ! 
198 



CAZ. 

Don't talk like Da Pietra. One would think you, too, 
had English blood! All's fair in love and war, and 
here we have both! 

ROXO 

It's true the Prince has no sense of honour — or he'd 
believe in ours, and be satisfied with the promise of 
marriage. But he actually refuses to launch his offen- 
sive against Bosnavina till the marriage ceremony Is 
performed. 

FIUMA {Relieved^ 

Then the whole scheme breaks down. Before the 

Prince can get here 

ROXO 

Oh, he won't come here. How can he leave his army? 

FIUMA 

Then how can they marry? By miracle? 

CAZ. 

By proxy. 

FIUMA 

What? 

CAZ. 

You've not heard of marriage by proxy? But It plays 
no small part In our annals. 

ROXO 

The Rolmenlan envoy will represent his Prince. 

199 



FIUMA 

That suffices? 

CAZ. 

Even a letter of consent suffices. . . . Don't look 
so dazed — it's all according to law and religion — ask 
the Cardinal or the Patriarch. 

FIUMA 

Ah, that's why I have to keep them on the premises! 

CAZ. 

Of course. Go along — you'll find them playing chess. 

FIUMA 

Sacrificing their Queen! 

ROXO 

Saving her. Shall she be Bosnavina's captive when 
she can become really its Duchess? 

CAZ. 

She will be much happier married — she gets no hys- 
terical nowadays. This fad of national mourning is a 
sign of it. Help us to persuade her — she has faith 
in you. 

FIUMA 

Which you ask me to abuse. She will never consent. 

CAZ. 

We think better of her patriotism. 
200 



ROXO 

And of yours. 

FIUMA 

Marry that pig-eyed swaggerer ! 

CAZ. 

The instant the ceremony is over, her proxy husband 
will telegraph a word to his Prince 

ROXO 

They won't let us even know the word — they're afraid 
we'd trick him into launching his offensive for nothing. 

CAZ. 

They have got the whip-hand. It is useless protest- 
ing. 

FIUMA [Bitterly] 

So that's why the wires have to be kept free and the 

fireworks dry! 

CAZ. 

But we've got the better of them in the Commercial 
Treaty, if they don't doctor the clauses; and we've cer- 
tainly come off with the best slice of Bosnavina. It 
looks the smaller. But I found out from the Baron 
where the oil-deposits lie. Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! 

FIUMA 

So you've done well with our Margherita. 

201 



ROXO 

And by her. Practically three kingdoms in her pocket. 

FIUMA 

Horrible ! And if the Rolmenian envoy never turns 
up? 

CAZ. 

Ugh! Don't suggest such a thing — his car had al- 
ready crossed into Bosnavina, before the wires broke 
down. 

FIUMA 

Ha ! Ha ! Ha ! So he cuts across the very country 
he is to destroy! Politics are certainly amusing. 

CAZ. 

It won't be very amusing if he's not here by to-night. 

Listen ! 

[Dull cries of "Stop the War." Enter chamber- 
lain L. with a telegram on a salver'] 

Ha! At last! This will be news of him! 

CHAMBERLAIN 

Sent In from the Ministry by the subway, your ex- 
cellency. 

[Bows and goes.] 

CAZ. [Tears envelope] 

Carento 13. 5. He's already in Valdania, you see. 

ROXO 
Thank God! 
202 



CAZ. 

What's this? "Warn danger to the Palace. Country 
seething with horrible rumours. Hope arrive early 
this evening. D'Azollo." 

ROXO 
D'Azollo? 

CAZ. 

Damn! The old fool will be worse than the young 
one. 

FIUMA 
Thank you. 

CAZ. [Fuming] 

While he was pottering around on his Canal Commis- 
sion, he kept the country confident. He was a symbol 
of stabiHty. Now — oh, this is the last straw! 

ROXO 

It's natural he should rush back to protect his idol 
from the mob. 

CAZ. 

If only he won't protect her from us! Chamberlain! 

[The CHAMBERLAIN re-appears. CAZOTTI puts 

back the wire on the saher.] 
Show this to the Duchess D'Azollo. 

[The CHAMBERLAIN bows and exit.] 
We must trust to the Duchess monopolising her long- 
absent lord. 
203 



FIUMA 

You won't prevent him from opposing the marriage. 

CAZ. 

If he succeeds, it is all over with Valdania. 

ROXO [Agitated] 

No, no! 

CAZ. 

"Who draws the sword of Alpastroom " 

ROXO [Thundering] 
Silence I 

CAZ. 

You forget you are speaking to your chief. 

ROXO 

We punish doubt even in a plain citizen — in a chief it 
should be a capital offence. Tell the Queen, If you 
will, that this marriage is our only hope — that may 
be prudent — but do not blaspheme against God. He 
will yet save His people. 

CAZ. 

Oh, very well — go and get your miracle, I wash my 
hands of your combination. 
[Going L.] 

FIUMA 

The crisis, Signori, is too grave for quarrels. 
204 



ROXO {Joyously extending his hand] 
Ah, then you will work with us ! 

FIUMA [Gripping it with a sob] 

It Is the only chance I have had for heroism. 

ROXO 

Good lad! Don't think I don't feel for the Queen — 

or for you. Don't go, Cazotti, my nerves are on 

edge. 

[duchess enters L., further stopping CAZOTTI by 

holding out the telegram to him.] 

DUCHESS D'A. [Agitatedly] 

Danger to the Palace? What does it mean? 

CAZ. [Savagely] 

That your husband's coming home ! 

FIUMA [Smiling a little] 

Don't be alarmed, aunt. It's only the people want 

the war stopped. Can't you hear? 

DUCHESS D'A. 

The people? What insolence! 

[Goes towards casement L.] 
Really, the world seems topsy-turvy nowadays. The 
Duke, I hear, goes to early Mass ! 

ROXO 

There are worse revolutions than that. Your high- 
ness had better keep away from the balcony. 
205 



DUCHESS D'A. 

They would never dare shoot me! 

FIUMA 

Have you never heard of the French Revolution? 

DUCHESS D'A. 

But we are not In France! 

CAZ. [Smiling] 

No — they do things better there ! Here there seems no 
leading spirit, no concentration. Do you note, Roxo, 
how spasmodic the shouting is? Fortunately it's too 
cold to stand about. However, Fm glad you've come, 
Duchess. I want you please to help with the wedding. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

The wedding! What wedding? 

CAZ. 

A Court lady's. This very hour, perhaps. You ladies 
had best dress at once. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Is this a jest, Carlo? 

FIUMA 

I wish to God it was I 

CAZ. 

We must do something to pacify the people. And 

206 



It will cheer up the Court, too, to cast off mourning 
for the nonce, 

DUCHESS D'A. 

But who is it? I am dying of curiosity. 

CAZ. 

Enlighten your aunt before she expires. And let her 
stop all the cackle in advance. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

But will the Queen be present? 

CAZ. 

It will hardly take place without her. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

And will she permit grand toilette? 

CAZ. 

You will take all your instructions from the Lord 
Chamberlain. 

DUCHESS D'A. 

Quick, Carlo ! I burn. Oh, I hope the Duke will be 
back for the wedding! 

[Exit L. with FIUMA.] 

CAZ! 

Well, we've won Fiuma over. That's a great asset. 

ROXO 

It would be a greater asset to have the proxy safe on 
207 



the premises. Why doesn't the Rolmenian rascal turn 
up? I trust the look-out is on the qui vhe. Every 
instant is precious. 

[He opens casement R. and steps out on bal- 
cony.] 

CROWD [From Piazza] 

Stop the War! Stop the War! Boo! 

ROXO [Returning trembling] 
Good God! 

CAZ. 

Frightened of the mob? You! 

ROXO 

The sentry's dead! 

CAZ. 
Dead? 

ROXO 

Half-frozen already. Could you give me a hand? 

CAZ. 

Can't you call somebody? . . . Sh ! Here's the 

Queen. 

[ROXO closes the casement. CAZOTTI conceals his 
agitation. The queen, entering L., makes no at- 
tempt to conceal hers. She is in black, but wears, 
by Valdanian custom, the crown for the Council.] 

QUEEN 

I've dismissed the Council! 

208 



CAZ. 

Oh, Madam, why? 

QUEEN 

I could see the sunset from the windows. 

[The two men look at each other. She gazes at 

the coloured-glass Madonna.] 
Here at least the Madonna shuts it out — that great 
ocean of blood. 

[Falls into a chair L. and covers her face.] 
Oh, holy mother, if you could blot it all out! 

[Sobs.] 

CAZ. [To Roxo] 

That's what comes of having women monarchs. 

ROXO 

Her father gave us more trouble with his mistresses. 

CAZ. 

D n etiquette. I can't stand here dumb.. 

ROXO 

No, no! Let her have her cry out. 

CAZ. 

Time presses. I must tell her. 

CROWD [Dully from Piazza] 

Stop the War ! 

209 o 



QUEEN [Listening suddetily] 
Ah, you hear! 

CAZ. 

Only a few Bolshevists, Madam. But we can't stop 
the war. The deadlock at the pass ended in our defeat. 
This rag Is only too accurate. 

QUEEN 

Oh, I have known it all along — all these long winter 
nights that I lie tossing in the dark, thinking of our 
heroes in the icy trenches. Ah, the divine relief when 
the sun comes up over the mountain-tops and spreads 
the blue shadow of the firs on the snow! 

ROXO 

That divine relief. Madam, can be found even in the 

dark. If one seeks the peace of God. 

QUEEN 

The peace of God? As I lie sleepless I think of the 
eternal Insomnia of God. 

ROXO [Shocked] 
Madam! 

QUEEN 

I only quote the Bible. God neither slumbers nor 
sleeps. Ah, it is the pain of God, not His peace that 
passeth understanding. Last night, drugged by the In- 
cense and music of the Intercession Service, I felt I 
should sleep at last. But oh! it was worse than my 

210 



nights of insomina ! I dreamed I was escaping from 
it all — drifting on a timber-raft, exulting in the rush 
along the river, the leaps down the roaring cataracts, 
the straining and snapping of the ropes. Suddenly 
came a strange calm. We had reached Bosnavina. 
But the sentries did not challenge. They stood frozen 
on the frontier. 

CAZ. [Superstitiously glancing at casement /?.] 
Eh? 

QUEEN 

The cattle lay frozen In the fields, the chimneys dripped 
with Icicles. The raftsmen began building a box with 
their timber. I said, what Is this? They said, It Is 
your coffin. Duchess of Bosnavina. Would you sur- 
vive all your subjects? While they were closing me in 
It, I struggled vainly to move or speak, but when I 
heard the frozen clods rattle on the lid, I gave a great 
cry and the lid flew off, and the coffin soared over lands 
and seas until It descended at my own doorstep In 
New York. I tore In, calling "Daddy, daddy!" But 
they were all three frozen like the others — Daddy, 
Oliver, Norah. Ah, for once I was glad to wake 
up, to think this at least was not true. 

[Springs up.] 
Tell me, tell me It Is not. All through the war I have 
never troubled you with enquiries. But now, now ! 

CAZ. 

Calm yourself, Madam ! Our American espionage de- 

211 



partment would certainly have Informed us, had any- 
thing happened to the Da Pletra household. But as 
for the other person, if by Oliver you mean the young 
architect, Oliver Randel, then I can give you the most 
reassuring news, for he is just happily married. 

QUEEN 

Married? 



CAZ. 

To a California heiress who adores his architecture. 



QUEEN [Fisibly stricken] 

Ohl 

[Turns away and drops into a chair. ROXO's hand 
grasps CAZOTTl's in congratulation of his clever- 
ness. From L. there comes faintly a sound of a 
Greek Church chant in clear boyish voices: 
"Happy are those who fear the Lord," etc.] 

What is that? 



ROXO 

Sounds like the chapel choir practising. 

QUEEN 

For what? More ceremonies? I'll have no more. 
Can heaven itself bring back our heroes? Ah, I de- 
served that coffin! 

212 



CAZ. 

You are overwrought, Madam. You did your best 
to prevent the war. 

QUEEN [Feverishly] 

Yes, I did, didn't I? I wrote to the ambassador, I 

explained. 

ROXO 

Never in our history has a sovereign grovelled so! 

QUEEN 

But you delivered my apologies — they were delivered? 
[ROXO hesitates.] 

CAZ. 

Of course, Madam. The Bosnavinians were bent 
on war. 

QUEEN 

They were, weren't they? It's not my fault, really? 

ROXO 

They had been preparing for half a century. 

QUEEN 

And you all did your best, too, to prevent it — you 
wrote, you conferred ! 

CAZ. 

We appealed to the League of Nations — their Com- 
mittee is still sitting. We cabled to the Pope and the 

Caliph — we sat up all night 

213 



QUEEN 

Then why don't you stop it now? 

ROXO 

Now? When we are losing? 

QUEEN 

But I asked you to stop it when Marrobio took Ripo ! 

ROXO 

It's not In human nature to stop when you are winning. 

CAZ. 

There would have been a revolution — not so mild as 
to-day's. 

QUEEN 

But when there was a deadlock at the pass, I asked you 
to stop, too. 

ROXO 

Then we felt that with a little more pressure ! 

QUEEN 

So whether you are winning, losing or drawing, you 
can never stop. The forest is smouldering and you 
work all night to stamp out the menace. Yet once the 
fire bursts out, then you are to fold your arms — or, 
rather, to pour oil on the flames! 

ROXO 

That Is the law of war. 

214 



QUEEN 

The law of lunacy! We all seem like the cat in the 
old Arab fable. 

CAZ. 

What cat, Madam? 

QUEEN 

The cat that bit the meat-knife and found such joy in 
the blood that she went on biting till she bled to 
death. 

ROXO 

There is no joy in blood, Madam. There is mutual 
sacrifice. War is God's instrument for exalting and 
purifying a nation. 

CAZ. [Impatient] 

These academic arguments 



[Enter frenziedly, BARON GRIPSTEIN R., dishev- 
elled, hysteric, muddy, blood oozing from his fore- 
head.] 

BARON GR. 

Save me. Madam, give me shelter! 
[Sensation.] 

QUEEN [Springing up] 
What has happened? 

BARON GR. 

The mob has burnt our quarter. 
215 



QUEEN 

What quarter? 

BARON GR. 

They say the Jews made the war — I saw them driven 
back into the flames — women and children. 

QUEEN 

God in heaven! 

ROXO [Roaring] 
Where are the troops? 

BARON GR. 

I don't know. As I passed, my car was stopped, sur- 
rounded, hooted, stoned. Yes, I remember, there 
were soldiers, but they joined in the jeering. 

ROXO 

I must 'phone to Molp. 

[Enter fiuma R., who stares at the BARON.] 
Ah, Fiuma, what news? 

BARON GR. 

I thank God my wife did not live to see this day, my 
son is blind to it. • 

QUEEN 

Compose yourself. Fiuma, will you see to the Baron? 

He has been hurt by the mob. 

216 



FIUMA 

I am sorry, Baron. Come with me. 

[Is leading him out. The BARON submits dazedly. 
A raucous roar of glee is heard from the mob.] 

CAZ. 

This is getting serious. Unfortunately we haven't 
enough Jews to last them long. 

[J red flame flickers up behind the casements.] 
What did I say? The fire is spreading. The 
Palace 

FIUMA [At exit] 

No danger, excellency. They are only burning some- 
body in effigy. 

CAZ. 

Who is it? 

FIUMA 

Oh, it's only to warm themselves. 

QUEEN 

Ah, you are afraid to say — It must be me ! 

FIUMA 

No, Madam, your figure doesn't lend itself to the 
grotesque. 

QUEEN 

Who is it, then? 
217 



FIUMA 

The Prime Minister. 

[Exit L. with BARON.] 

CAZ. 

Me ? The ungrateful brutes ! Think how they cheered 
my war-speech from that very balcony, think of the 
boys of fourteen who tried to enlist! But this peril 
from your own people, Madam, added to the enemy's 
menace, makes it imperative that without a moment's 
delay, Roxo and I should now explain to you 

ROXO [Nervously] 

If Your Majesty will excuse me 

[Bowing and going R.] 

CAZ. [Angrily] 

Why do you leave it to me? 

ROXO 

I must 'phone to Molp to protect the Jews. I don't 

even know if the fire brigade 

[Cries of "Margherita! Margheritaf" penetrate 

from the Piazza.] 

QUEEN 

Ah, my people are calling me I 
[Goes to casement L.] 

ROXO [Rushing hack] 
For God's sake, Madam! 
218 



QUEEN 

I faced the music when it was pleasant 

[roxo waves her aside and rushes out instead of 
her. The red flame flickers more strongly.'] 

CROWD [From Piazza} 

Boo-oo ! 

Stop the War! 

Death to Roxo ! 

Viva Roxo ! 

Death to Margherita ! 

Down with Cazotti ! 

Silence for Roxo! 

Boo-oo ! 



ROXO [Raising his armless sleeve has obtained si- 
lence, and shouts] 
Go home, my friends. The Pacifist rag has misled 
you ! Wait till you see the Gazetta! We have a new 
army of a million. 

[Cheers. Voices, "Send them home!" drowned in 
cheers.] 
Victory is assured. Viva Marrobio ! Viva Mar- 
gherita ! Viva Valdania ! 

[Closes casement amid confused cheering, mingled 
with some boos. All noise gradually dies down.] 



QUEEN 

What is the use of feeding them with lies? 
219 



ROXO 

It only rests with Your ?vlajesty to make my words 
true. 

QUEEN 

With me? 

ROXO 

Yes, your people are calling you. 

QUEEN 

I do not understand. 

ROXO 

Cazotti will explain. 

\^Bows and retires i?.] 

CAZ. {As ROXO passes'] 
Coward! . . , 

[He walks about embarrassed.'] 

QUEEN 

I am waiting. 

CAZ. 

I — er Just let me find a map, Your Majesty. 

QUEEN 

Never mind a map. Go on. 

CAZ. 

You have probably remarked that Bosnavina, while 

220 



bounded on the E. and S. E. by ourselves, has for its 
Western neighbour, Rolmenia. 

QUEEN 

Is this the time for a lesson in geography? 

CAZ. 

I only wish to recall to Your Majesty the existence of 
Rolmen'a. 

QUEEN 

I am not likely to forget how that pig-eyed little Prince 
impressed its greatness upon me, as he curled his 
detestable moustache. 

CAZ. [Disconcerted] 

Your Majesty's memory is . . . appalling. Prince 

Igmor is a genius. 

QUEEN 

So you all said of Marrobio. But never mind the 
Prince — he's not worth talking about — come to your 
point. Obviously you are thinking of getting help 
from his father. 

CAZ. 

Your Majesty's divination is as marvellous as your 
memory, 

QUEEN 

And your compliments as superfluous as your geog- 
raphy. After all, I was first at College before I was 

221 



first at Court. But I refuse to drag other countries 
into the war, to slaughter unfortunate men who have 
nothing to do with our quarrel. 

CAZ. 

Then you prefer to slaughter Marrobio and his forces? 

QUEEN 

But if we stopped the war ! 

CAZ. 

Do you begin that again? That only means our 
swifter annexation to Bosnavina. Besides, the mere 
entry of Rolmenia into the war may stop it. Bos- 
navina, caught between two fires, will surrender, in- 
stead of Valdania, and the fresh slaughter you fear 
will probably never take place. Ah, Madam, you have 
not the right to destroy your country. 

QUEEN 

/ am destroying it? — I? 

CAZ. 

You drew the sword of Alpastroom — will you write 
our or Bosnavina's doom? 

QUEEN [^Struggling with herself — after a pause] 
What does Rolmenia ask? 

CAZ. 

The conditions are hard. 

222 



QUEEN 

But since we have no alternative 

CAZ. 

Cannot Your Majesty guess? 

QUEEN 

My brain is too tired. Don't waste time. 

CAZ. 

They ask various things. Prince Igmor, who is really 
an excellent fellow, was satisfied with one thing. But 
his father wanted not only a commercial treaty, but 
the lion's share of Bosnavina. 

QUEEN 

A share of what does not belong to us! Let them 
have it all. And for that they will give us a million 
men. Oh, why didn't you tell me before? My poor 
Marrobio! 

CAZ. 

Yes, Madam. But — but there is one last condition. 

QUEEN 

And that is ! 

[baron gripstein appears L., spruced up again, 

his cut neatly plastered.] 
Ah, Baron, you are restored! 

BARON GR. 

To my senses, Madam. I am so ashamed. I don't 

223 



know what I said except it was not "God bless you." 
May He reward you for your gracious kindness! And 
it is your wife, excellency, that has dressed my wound. 
And the Cardinal and the Patriarch have been so sym- 
pathetic. 

QUEEN 

The Cardinal and the Patriarch! They are both in 

the Palace? 

CAZ. 

I sent for them, Madam. They . , . are interested 
in the Rolmenian agreement. 

QUEEN 

Ah, those religious minority questions! 

CAZ. 

Your Majesty would enormously oblige me by resum- 
ing your seat in the Council Chamber and letting their 
eminences come to you. It is really their department 
— that last condition you were asking about. And I 
have to cope with this revolution. 

QUEEN 

But can't I leave it to them? 

CAZ. 

They rather make a point of your assent. Baron, will 
you not escort Her Majesty to the Council Chamber 
and send her their most reverend eminences? 
224 



BARON GR. 

I shall be most honoured. 

[Precedes the QUEEN L.] 
Way for the Queen! 

[Moves aside, lets her pass and follows. '\ 

CAZ. 

Ouf! Thank God for the Church! 

[Turning R. he sees CORPORAL VANNI enter with 

some men and a stretcher.^ 
What the devil ! 

VANNI 

General's orders, excellency. 

CAZ. 

Eh? — Ah, that poor sentinel! 

VANNI 

Yes, we all liked him. Heart-failure. He flopped just 

here. 

CAZ. 

But, then, Corpo di Dio, there's no look-out! 

VANNI 

The General's posted one in Da Pietra Street. The 

Piazza is impassable. 

CAZ. 

Ah! 

225 " p 



VANNI 

Apart from the Palace being barricaded. He's to bring 
the envoy by the War Office subway. 
[roxo enters breathlessly R.^ 

ROXO 
He's cornel 

CAZ. 

The proxy ? Thank God ! Where Is he ? 

ROXO 

Getting out of his snow-sodden motor-coat. Fluma's 
just bringing him. 

[Roaring as he perceives the stretcher moving to 

balcony.] 
Don't do that now! 

VANNI [Passing on the roar to his tnen] 
Cabbage-heads ! You must wait your chance ! 
[Motions them out and exit R.] 

ROXO 

It's a handsome proxy. 

CAZ. 

These Rolmenians are as handsome as they are tricky. 

ROXO 

Pity the Prince hasn't got his looks. 

CAZ. 

The Prince is a mongrel — his mother was a Bosna- 
226 



vinian — he seems to have picked out the worst points 
of both breeds. 

ROXO 

Ha! Ha! Ha! 

CAZ. 

But of the two give me the Bosnavinians. The Rol- 
menians are a rotten priest-ridden lot. 

ROXO 

What can you expect of the Greek Church? ... I 

beg your pardon. 

CAZ. 

What for? Do I believe in any church? 

[A gold-laced official enters L. with champagne 

and four glasses.] 
Ah, we are to drink! 

CROWD [A dull roar from the Piazza] 
Death to Margherita ! 

ROXO 

Here they are. 

[Enter L. FIUMA and CAPTAIN THEOPOLOU, a 
dashing young cavalry officer, in blue and gold, 
with marks of snow still on him. He carries a 
well-stuffed portfolio.] 

FIUMA 

Captain Theopolou ! Our Prime Minister. 
227 



CAZ, [Shaking hands] 

It gives me the greatest happiness to welcome a rep- 
resentative of His renowned Majesty of Rolmenia and 
his gallant and chivalrous son, Prince Igmor. 

[A pop from the champagne bottle the official is 
opening is like an ironic note of exclamation.} 
You have had a hard journey, I fear. 

CAPT. THEO. 

It was brightened by the thought of seeing the historic 

capital of culture. 

CAZ. 

Your goodness overrates us, but, with God's blessing, 
your journey will be fruitful. 

[All take glasses.] 
We drink to Rolmenia, the illustrious fatherland of 
antique faith and heroism, whose crystal-pure soul still 
engenders delicacy and chivalry. 

[They drink, but FIUMA merely sips.] 

CAPT. THEO. 

You are too good. I raise my glass to the happiness 
of your beautiful and gifted Queen. 
[fiuma's glass smashes.] 

CAZ. [Covering up the situation] 

You will want to rest before the ceremony. 

CAPT. THEO. 

And you to examine these. 

[Proffers portfolio.] 
228 



FIUMA [Murmuring] 

Ah, the funeral arrangements! 

ROXO [Perturbed] 
You promised 

CAZ. [Quietly to ROXO] 
Hush! '^ 

[Aloud to FIUMA.] 

After fixing up our honoured guest, will you find the 
Baron and explain things? He may be so easily 
swayed — we ought to have got him on our side long 
ago. 

ROXO 

You cannot get him on one side. 

FIUMA 

I will do my best. Come, Captain Theopolou! 
[Exeunt.] 

CAZ. [Reproachfully] 

Don't you know Fiuma's word is his bond? 

[Pulls out from portfolio documents with great 

pendant red seals.] 
The Commercial Treaty — The War Treaty — The 
Marriage Contract — The Letter of Consent — The 
Nomination of the Proxy. With so tricky a people, 
they will need study, though of course we could always 

evade the clauses. But so far 

229 



ROXO 

Would I had two hands that I might rub them to- 
gether! 

[ The QUEEN bursts in furiously L. The CARDINAL 
and the patriarch at her heels in full canonicals, 
their vestments evidently donned for the ceremony. 
The CARDINAL is all in red, save for the black 
mantle edged with it and the falling black bands, 
and wears a red skull cap, holding his black hat in 
his hand: the PATRIARCH is more gorgeous and 
jewelled.] 

QUEEN 

Do not follow me — my decision is final ! 

[ROXO and CAZOTTI bow, disconcerted.] 
Ah, Cazotti, no wonder you didn't dare propose your 
monstrous combination! 

CAZ. 

My combination? 

ROXO 

It is my combination, Madam. The only way — un- 
der God — to save Valdania ! 

QUEEN 

Then Valdania Is lost! 

CAZ. 

And your throne, too. 
230 



QUEEN 

I must go down with my people. 

CAZ. 

Nothing so heroic, Madam. Your people will tear 
you in pieces when they learn why the million men 
already announced 

QUEEN 

My people threaten nothing so terrible as your propo- 
sition. 

ROXO 

You have not the right to die when you alone can 
save them. When you agreed to come back with me, 
you knew from your mother's fate that sovereignty 
meant sacrifice. 

QUEEN 

My mother was only murdered — shq was not out- 
raged. 

CAZ. 

We cannot accept that description of royal alliances. 
No Princess of your house has ever chosen her hus- 
band. Several have been betrothed at birth; and as 
for the famous Jacinta, the Metropolitan Archbishop 
performed her marriage ceremony when she was five. 

QUEEN 

Loathsome ! 
231 



CARDI. 

No, my daughter, in your exalted sphere, ordinary 
values are changed. Sovereigns must seek their hap- 
piness in duty. Yesterday Your Majesty prayed God 
for victory. To-day He offers you the means. 

QUEEN [Shocked] 
He offers — He ? 

CARDI. 

Assuredly. 

QUEEN 

Ah, you do well to say "He!" A woman God would 
be more understanding, 

CARDI. 

As I may neither contradict nor condone Your 
Majesty's heresies I must beg leave to retire. 

PATRI. 

I associate myself with his most reverend eminence. 

CAZ, [Desperately] 

But surely, your holiness. Her Majesty only refers to 

our blessed Mary. 

CARDI. 

Ah, in that case 

[baron gripstein appears L. and draws hack.] 
232 



BARON GR. 

Ah, the Council is shifted. I intrude. 

QUEEN 

No; come, Baron. I need somebody human. Do you 
know of this horrible suggestion? 

BARON GR. 

I have just been shocked to learn it. 

QUEEN [Relieved] 
Ha! 

CAZ. 

Then the martyrdom of your sons is to go for nothing 
— your blinded Sigismondo, your slaughtered ! 

BARON GR. [Bursting into tears] 
My poor children! 

QUEEN 

Don't! It's not fair argument. 
[Sinks into a chair.] 

CAZ. 

Hush, Baron! Consider Her Majesty's feelings. 
You have the man-power statement? 

BARON GR. [Mastering himself] 
Ah, pardon! 

{Fumbles in pocket.] 
233 



QUEEN [^Waving it away] 

I don't want It. What you call man-power I call 

power of suffering. O my poor tortured soldiers! 

PATRI. 

Their sufferings will be subtracted from their period 
of purgatory. 

QUEEN 

If my own Church cannot persuade me, how should 
yours ? 

PATRI. 

By showing you that they are at one in the love of the 
Fatherland, that you are not alone In making sacri- 
fices. 

QUEEN 

And what sacrifices does anybody else make? 

PATRI. 

Everybody makes sacrifices. Prince Igmor in accept- 
ing a Catholic wife 

QUEEN [Bridling] 
Accepting? 

PATRI. 

Both our Churches in permitting the mixed marriage. 

234 



CARDL 

And mine in letting the Prince's Church perform the 
ceremony. 

PATRL 

And mine in permitting the children to be Catholic. 

CAZ. 

Is it necessary to go Into these details? The con- 
tract 

CARDL 

Her Majesty must clearly assent, your excellency. The 
Vatican, which has given me carte blanche other- 
wise ■ 

ROXO 

And since this delicate matter has come up, may I 
add that in these turbulent times the sooner the dynasty 
Is assured, the better. Not till the hundred and one 
guns announce the birth of a prince 

BARON GR. 

Ah, but we must be certain marriage minus the bride- 
groom is legitimate? 

CARDL 

It is certain his absence is not among the impedimenta 

diremptoria or the 

235 



CAZ. 

We have been Into all that ! Even this letter of consent 

[Exhibiting it] 
suffices ! 

CARDI. 

Yes, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis for the year 2 



CAZ. 

Let us not go back. 

CARDI. 

But even recently, Baron, the Sacred Congregation of 
the Rota 

CAZ. 

The Baron, I am sure 



PATRI. 

I took the opinion of my brother the Archimandrite. 
State necessity 

CAZ. 

Knows no delay. We must to the ceremony. 

[The QUEEN, who has sat silent throughout, 
shoots a startled glance at him.] 

PATRI. 

You see, Baron, though Our Lord made matrimony a 

sacrament, it did not cease to be a contract. 

236 



CARDI. 

And contracts do not need the joint presence of the 
parties. 

PATRI. 

Our role is simply to bless the contract. 

QUEEN 

As you blessed the banners : as you turned church-bells 
into cannon ! 

CARDI. 

The end sanctifies the means. 

CAZ. 

We are wandering from the point. If there is any 
flaw In the legality, so much the better. Her Majesty 
would remain unbound. 

QUEEN 

And do you think that after the Prince had fought for 
us, I would creep out through a legal flaw? 

ROXO 

Brava! Coals of fire for the Prince! 

CAZ. 

Even if there is no flaw, Madam, the Prince may be 
killed In the war. 

QUEEN 

A war-widow ! So, Cardinal, it's not a sacrament, but 
a gamble. 

237 



CARDI. 

It was not I who put it so, my daughter. 

QUEEN 

You overlook another way out, Cazotti. / may die 
during the war. 

BARON GR. 
God forbid! 

QUEEN 

I thought you were a friend of mine. 

[Enter fiuma L.] 
Ah, here comes a real friend. 

[Hysterically] 
Fiuma, if you know about this plan, tell them it is too 
horrible. 

[A pause, fiuma struggles with himself.'] 

FIUMA [Slowly] 

It is a martyrdom. No woman in history ever had a 

ghastlier or a more glorious opportunity. 

QUEEN 

You too! 

[Covers her face.] 

ROXO 

You will shine in our history like a star. 

CAZ. 

Come, Madam! The Prince at the other end of the 

cable awaits his answer. 

238 



[The QUEEN is now ringed round with six men, 
like a hunted creature at bay. She sweeps out her 
arms wildly.^ 

QUEEN 

You give me no breathing-space. 

CAZ. 

What breathing-space has Marroblo? Very soon our 
soldiers may cease to breathe altogether! 

ROXO 

Rolmenia, outraged by our refusal, will join in destroy- 
ing us. 

FIUMA 

Bosnavina will certainly show us no mercy. 

BARON GR. {Sobbing] 

Our immemorial glory will be extinct. 

PATRI. 

Bosnavina will impose her own bishops. 

CARDI. 

Our Moslem will rise and crush the Church. 

QUEEN 

And / am to be the scapegoat! Here you stand, six 
great men, two of you with the keys to heaven, yet 
you can think of no way of saving your country but by 
outraging a lonely girl! 
239 



CAZ., ROXO, FIUMA, BARON, CARDL, PATRI. 

[All speaking at once] 

I protest, Madam ! Your Majesty's language 

! I would give my life ! But it may turn 

out happy ! O, my daughter ! I am not St. 

Peter ! 

QUEEN [Springing magnijicently to her feet like a 

lioness and sweeping them all away] 
No more ! If I have listened thus far, it is not because 
of your arguments, it is because I feel blood-guilty. 
Not of the war — no, not of that ! But when, despite 
all my grovelling, as Roxo calls it, Bosnavina sounded 
the war-trumpet, then out of the obscure depths of 
my being rose an answering blood-lust, a mad joy of 
battle. I longed to crush Bosnavina, to humble her 
haughty ambassador in the dust, and with my foot on 
his neck, to hear his "grovelling" countrymen salute 
their Duchess. Ah, the flags, the cheers, the drums, 
the drugs that make one drunk! Prancing in an Ama- 
zonian uniform and a plumed busby as Colonel of 
my Hussars, I sped the soldiers to the strains of my 
own music, crying "God and glory!" as one chivies 
dogs to the chase. When Marrobia took Ripo, victory 
shrilled through my veins like a trumpet, and I has- 
tened to the cathedral to offer a "Te Deum." Ah, 
how God has punished that savage vain-glory! But 
is my expiation not yet complete? Must I — oh, why 
did they kill my mother when I need her so? Leave 
me, leave me, all of you! I must think, I must 
pray! 
240 



CARDI. 

Let me pray with you, my daughter. 

QUEEN [Stamps foot] 

Leave me. Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! 

[Collapsing on her chair, sobbing] 

QKZ. [Quietly to the Church dignitaries] 
You may prepare for the ceremonial. Come, Roxo, 
we must study the contracts to see they don't jew us. 
Baron, we shall be glad of your help. Madam, your 
very humble servant. 

[//// bow and exeunt except FIUMA, who stands 
surveying the queen in silent sympathy. Then he, 
too, goes out. The queen lises totteringly and 
turns to the painted Madonna on the casement.] 

QUEEN 

O blessed Mary, whose face I have scarcely known 
from my mother's, help me, send me a Redeemer. 
. . . Or at least send me a sign. What shall I 
answer? What shall I answer? 

CROWD [From Piazza] 
Death to Margherita ! 

QUEEN 

Death? Perhaps that is the answer. 

[Twilight has now fallen and the flames leaping 
weirdly on the hearth alone illumine the scene. 
The duke d'azollo in thick motor-coat, snow- 

241 Q 



stained and perturbed, enters breathlessly R. The 
QUEEN turns at the sound and gives a great cry.'\ 

QUEEN 

Ah, my Redeemer! You have come to save me from 
them! 

DUKE D'A. 

Yes, yes, be calm; I have come to save you from them. 

QUEEN 

But how did you know? 

DUKE D'A. 

It is in the air. 

QUEEN [Puzzled] 
In the air? 

DUKE D'A. 

The terrible war-situation. I foresaw the Palace would 
be barricaded — lucky I knew of the subway. You 
must escape. 

QUEEN 

Escape? From the Palace? 

DUKE D'A. 

Oh, my dear, I remember your mother's fate. Don't 

repeat it. 

242 



QUEEN 

But if I escape, what happens to Valdania? 

DUKE D'A. 

Valdania is doomed anyhow. 

QUEEN 

There are tears in your voice — yes, and in your eyes. 

DUKE D'A. 

I did not know I should feel it so bitterly. When 
they made me Regent, it all seemed a farcical flum- 
mery — see >vhat you have made of the old dilettante. 
A thousand years of history to end in the dust! 

[Brushes hand across eyes.] 
But I can't think of my country, only of you. 

QUEEN 

Only of me? 

DUKE D'A. 

You are dearer to me than all Valdania — oh, don't 
shrink, it's not a love like that. With you, your body 
seems in your soul. I will get the Duchess — I know 
of a safe retreat for you both. 

[The crowd's cry, "Death to Margherita!" again 

penetrates.] 
Ah, come ! 

QUEEN 

But these poor Ignorant people who are crying out 
there, I am to leave them at Bosnavina's mercy? 
243 



DUKE D'A. 

Whether you live or die, they are at Bosnavina's 
mercy. 

QUEEN 

But if I told you it depended only on me to hurl a 

million fresh troops upon Bosnavina ! 

DUKE D'A. 

Oh, God! Is it possible? 
[Half sobs.} 

QUEEN 

It is certain. Victory is assured. Our heroes will not 
have died in vain. Bosnavina will be crushed between 
— but quick ! Find Cazotti or Roxo and tell them my 
answer is "Yes." 

DUKE D'A. [In dazed ecstasy] 
Bosnavina will be crushed? 

QUEEN 

Don't stand maundering — go before I change ! 

[He hurries out L. transfigured, half-sobbing. 

She falls on her knees before the Madonna at 

casement i?.] 
O holy mother, help me up this Way of the Cross ! 

[The great room is now still dimmer, the flames 

leap mystically.'] 
244 



VANNI [Jt right wing, staring to L.] 

All clear! 

[Turns head i?.] 

Come along, you ! 

[Sees QUEEN and is retiring in confusion and mo- 
tioning to his men to retreat.] 

QUEEN 

Don't be so frightened of me — glad to see you out 
of hospital. 

VANNI 

Thank you, Your Majesty, for all your kindness there. 

QUEEN 

And your sister that was worrying so over her hus- 
band? 

VANNI 

Oh, we've heard from him now. And I've had such 
a long letter about our victories. 
[Produces it.] 

QUEEN [Puzzled] 
Our victories? 

VANNI [Tendering it] 

Page 2 is the best, Your Majesty — I can't turn It. 

QUEEN [Taking it] 

Poor fellow ! 

245 



[A weird pause as she reads. Suddenly she stag- 
gers and crumples the letter in her fist.] 
So this is what victory means ! Go ! Go ! 

VANNI [Alarmed] 
Y-y-yes, Your Majesty. 
[Hasty exit R.] 

QUEEN 

And Roxo said there was no joy of blood. They 

should have read this yesterday in the Cathedral. 

[duke now divested of his motor-coat rushes back 

L.] 

DUKE D'A. 

You have tricked me I 

QUEEN 

I have tricked myself. I never realised before. 

[Rolls the letter still smaller.] 
Our heroes! Our heroes! 

[CAZOTTI, the BARON and FIUMA tear in.] 

CAZ. 

A million thanks, Madam! 

BARON GR. [Beaming] 
One per man, 

FIUMA 

You will live in history! 
246 



QUEEN 

I have lived in blinkers. . . . To be sacrificed to 

this ! 

[Hurls letter away.] 

DUKE D'A. 

You shall not sacrifice yourself. 

CAZ. 

Pardon me, Duke. We have the royal promise. 

DUKE D'A. 

It was infamous to exact it. 

CAZ. 

Ah, I knew you would try to spoil everything. Roxo 
is already at the War Office cabling the glad news to 
Marrobio, dictating the campaign. Our Queen will 
not play us false. 

QUEEN 

False — true — it is all meaningless — let these wild 
beasts rend each other — let them devour me and be 
done with it. Bring back your priests. 

CAZ. [Drawing a breath of relief] 

Ah! . . . Come, Madam, they await you in the 

chapel. 

QUEEN 

In the chapel? Profane the sanctuary? Let them 

come here! 

247 



CAZ. 

But, Madam 1 

QUEEN 

My consent is the real marriage. You heard their 
learned exposition 

l^Haughtily^ 
You have our ultimatum. 

\_She walks haughtily to the throne and mounts the 

steps.] 

BARON GR. [Sotto voce] 

But this very hall was the chapel of the original mon- 
astery. 

CAZ. 

So it was! Bravo! And with a little sprinkling- 



[Aloud and with a deep obeisance to the QUEEN, 

who has now seated herself on the throne.] 
Your Majesty's wish is law ! 

{Sotto voce to baron] 
By the way, cable your Jew to sell my Bosnavian bonds 
before Amsterdam learns that 

{Exeunt BARON and cazotti.] 

DUKE D'A. [Aloud] 
Something must be done, Carlo I 

FIUMA 

Nothing can be done — now. But if the Prince dares 

claim his bride ! 

[He lays his hand on the sword.] 
248 



QUEEN 

Ah, no, not that ! It would be murder, trickery . . . 

oh! 

[Covers her face.] 

[From L. bursts out a joyous carol in the fresh 

voices of boy choristers — "Roses, roses strew and 

cover'' — and the stir of an advancing procession 

becomes audible. The QUEEN starts at the first 

strains.] 

QUEEN 

That melody! 

DUKE D'A. 

It is your own setting of our nuptial folk-song. 

FIUMA [Bitterly] 
Cazotti's cleverness again! 

[Enter boy choristers in white surplices, singing.] 

BOY CHORISTERS 

Roses, roses strew and cover 
Happy lass and happy lover. 
Sun on bride is but in keeping, 
Rain is jealous angels weeping. 
[Behind and with the choir come other priests in 
the gorgeous robes of the Greek Church, with tall 
wax candles and swinging censers. The PATRIARCH 
in his jewelled vestments comes along, sprinkling 
from a little chalice and murmuring prayers. The 
CARDINAL is at his side. One of the acolytes bears 
249 



two floral crowns on a tray, and another a wine- 
flask and a glass. Then comes the whole Court 
in gala attire, the pages and maids of honour hear- 
ing great bouquets of chrysanthemums and other 
winter flowers. The countess cazotti carries a 
basket of flax and hemp seed for strewing after the 
ceremony. Lastly comes captain THEOPOLOU, 
walking between cazotti and BARON GRIPSTEIN, 
who now acting as best man carries a great fir 
branch, decorated with ribbon, and eliding in a gilt 
cross tied with red silk. The queen with her black 
dress and pale face makes a strange contrast with 
all this flamboyance as she sits rigid on her throne. 
While the procession is filing in, an official has been 
lighting the tall candles in the heavy old candle- 
sticks, and another has been spreading a red silk 
carpet in the centre of the room. As captain 
THEOPOLOU enters, he advances alone to do hom- 
age to the QUEEN; mechanically she puts out her 
hand, but, as he kisses it, she draws it back as if 
scorched. The patriarch motions to captain 
THEOPOLOU to take up his stand on the carpet, 
which he does.] 

PATRI. 

If Your Majesty would deign to descend? 

QUEEN [Not moving, pointing to floral crown] 
What is that? 

PATRI. 

The bridal crown, Madam. 
250 



QUEEN 

It is the heavier of the two. 

[She takes off her crown, then rising, places it on 
the throne and descends, like a sleepwalker, and 
stands beside CAPTAIN THEOPOLOU. The DUCH- 
ESS and BARON GRIPSTEIN Stand by as if supporting 
the couple, and the DUCHESS adjusts over the 
queen's head a wedding-veil, glittering with gold 
sequins.] 

PATRL [To captain] 
You have brought the rings? 

CAPT. THEO. [Producing them] 
Blessed by the MetropoHtan. 

PATRL 

Gold for the bridegroom, silver for the bride. 

[Gives the silver ring to the QUEEN.] 
These you will exchange. Wherein, dear brethren and 
sisters, we may read an image 

CAZ. [On pins and needles] 

Is this the place for the sermon, Monsignore ? 

PATRL 

I understand your excellency's impatience. 

[Joins the captain's right hand to the queen's 
left. She drops the ring. The BARON hastens to 
pick it up for her.] 

Are you Demetrius, surnamed Theopolou, Captain of 
251 



Rolmenian cavalry, duly empowered by oath and by 
letter here to hand to represent in this rite of holy 
matrimony your lord and commander-in-chief, His 
Royal Highness, Prince Igmor, Alexander, Constan- 
tino, Moravieff, Parma, Duke of Moldavia, second 
son of His Majesty, Rodolpho, King of Rolmenia, 
Archduke of Wallachia? 

CAPT. THEO. 
I am. 

PATRI. 

And do you, Demetrius Theopolou, as his proxy and 
in his name, take to lawful wife our sister Margher- 
ita, Carina, Rosamonda, Queen of Valdania, Duchess 
of Bosnavina? 

CAPT. THEO. 
I do. 

PATRI 

And do you, Margherita Carina ! 

DUKE D'A. 

Stop! If this be the Greek Church service ■ 



CAZ. 

This interruption is unseemly — Proceed! 

DUKE D'A. 

You interrupted, yourself, just now! 
252 



FIUMA 

Surely if there is any valid objection 

PATRI. 

What is it Your Highness wishes to say? 

DUKE D'A. 

That by your Church what you are doing now can 
never be undone. 

CARDI. 

Nor by mine. 

DUKE D'A. 

Not so. Our Church, though it denies divorce, admits 
nullity. Besides, the Pope can always 

CAZ. 

The form of service is beyond discussion. 

QUEEN [PFearily] 

Do get the ceremony over ! 

PATRI. 

Do you, Margherita, Carina, Rosamonda, Queen of 
Valdania, Duchess of Bosnavina, accept Prince Igmor, 
as here represented by proxy ? 

FIUMA 

But what guarantee have we against imposture? 

253 



CAPT. THEO. UVithdrawing hand from the 

queen's to grasp sword] 
Signer ! 

CAZ. 

It these Interruptions continue, Valdania is doomed. 

CARDI. 

Proceed, your Beatitude. 

PATRI. [Re-joining their hands — the queen's falls 

passively, like a dead weight] 
Do you, Margherita, Carina, Rosamonda, Queen of 
Valdania, Duchess of Bosnavina, take as your lawful 
husband, as here represented by proxy ? 

[roxo comes rushing in L., waving telegrams.'] 

ROXO 

Stop the marriage! Marrobio has conquered! 
[Confusion. Joyous outcries.] 

ROXO 

The first cable. Your Majesty, delayed by the snow- 
storm, runs: "Allah is great. Following the panic of 
a munitions explosion in Ripo have recaptured the 
city and taking the pass by surprise have swooped 
down on Torax. Joined by thousands of Valdanians 
am marching on the capital. — Marrobio." 

COURTIERS 

Viva Marrobio! Bravissimo! Viva Marrobio! 

254 



[The courtiers clap hands and wave handkerchiefs 
enthusiastically.^ 

BARON GR. [Heard hysterically above all the voices 

as he waves his fir branch^ 
I knew the God of Valdania would not desert us ! 

[Breaks down, sobs.^ 

COURTIERS 

Sh! 

ROXO [Holding up the second cable till there is 

silence] 
Dated to-day. "Allah Is merciful. Capital captured 
at hour of the first prayer. 65,000 prisoners, 380 
guns. The two million Valdanians risen to join us. 
Royal family and Government in flight. I present 
Bosnavina to its Duchess, I kiss the hem of her 
Majesty's robe and will tapestry her Palace with 
conquered flags. — Marroblo." 

COURTIERS 

Fiva Margherlta ! Fiva the Duchess of Bosnavina ! 

BARON GR. [Ecstatically] 

"When Rome yields up our royal seed !" 



ROXO [Handing cables to FIUMA] 
Read them in the Piazza, post them up! Corporal, 
let your men unbar the Palace and spread the news ! 
[/It a sign from VANNI, the men file out. Exit 

VANNI.] 
255 



FIUMA [PFith a sob in his voice] 
My congratulations, Madam. 
[Bows and exit.] 

CAZ. [In a hard tone] 

And my humble homage to the Duchess of Bosnavina. 

Your Majesty will rank with Alpastroom! 

COURTIERS 
Bravo ! 

[They wave handkerchiefs.] 

QUEEN 

/ rank with Alpastroom? 

CAZ. 

Did you not draw his sword? 

QUEEN 

God help me ! But let the man who saved the throne 
enjoy it. Pay Marrobio your homage henceforth — 
congratulate me only on my escape. 

ROXO 

Your Majesty Is overwrought. You must rest. 

QUEEN 

Yes, I can rest at last. Gorged by spoils and glory, 
with a second Alpastroom to feed her rapacious patri- 
otism, Valdania no longer needs me. 
256 



ROXO 

Valdania needs you more than ever. 

QUEEN [Fiercely] 

What more does she ask of me? I offered her my 
heart to eat, my body to befoul. Beggared of all that 
makes life bearable, did I hold back even my one last 
possession — my loneliness? You saved me from that 
pit — I bless you as one raised by Christ from hell. 
Through you I can breathe the air and see the stars. 
Be merciful once more and let me share my loneliness 
with God. 

DUKE D'A. 

Go into a convent! You! 

CAZ. 

You would yield your throne to Marrobio I 

BARON GR. 

We Christians will never accept a Mohammedan ruler! 

CAZ. 

Death sooner. 

COURTIERS 

Ay! Sooner death! 

ROXO 

You hear, Madam. You would unchain civil war. A 

murderous rivalry of pretenders I 

257 R 



QUEEN [Desperately] 

Then I must be prisoned here? All my life? 

CAZ. 

Who prisons you? But the moment when Marorbio 
is swollen with triumph ! 

ROXO [Turning on him] 

There will never be a moment, your excellency. Her 

Majesty will never be false to her blood or her oath 

of fidelity. 

[The sound of the mob cheering outside penetrates 
dully. "Margherita! Margheritaf"] 

Hark, Madam ! Your people are calling for you ! 

QUEEN 

That mob, mindless as the sea in its smiles and furies! 

PATRI. 

Your Majesty's God-given charge. 

CARDI. 

To whose service I consecrated you. 

PATRI. 

On such a day you must rejoice together. 

QUEEN 

Let them rejoice alone. I will have no part in the 

saturnalia of the sword. 

258 



ROXO 

Do not blaspheme the sword, Madam, nor the sacri- 
fices by which God shapes the peoples. 

QUEEN 

By which the devil deforms them. Beasts are less 
savage than men under blood-lust. No, no, General, 
leave it to the Church to confuse the sword with the 
crucifix. If you would have me stay Queen to fend 
off war within, you must swear to me, Signori, that 
there shall nevermore be war without. 

CAZ. 

Our conquest of Bosnavia assures that, Madam. 

QUEEN 

Would it not be surer if we gave Bosnavina her free- 
dom back, keeping only our recovered province? 

DUKE D'A. 

Oh, Madam! 

[Resentful murmurs from COURTIERS] 

ROXO 

Give Bosnavina freedom for revenge ! 

QUEEN 

Reason to desist from revenge ! Our grace would 

turn her swords into ploughshares. 

259 



ROXO 

It will be safer, Your Majesty, If we turn her swords 
into crutches. 

[Sardonic laughter from COURTIERS.] 

QUEEN 

Then you mean to treat her as she treated our prov- 
ince? 

CAZ. 

Are we barbarians, Madam? 

BARON GR. 

We shall give her our culture, 

CAZ. 

Peace is our one aspiration. Under your Majesty's 
benign rule Bosnavina will be blest. Marrobio would 
lash her to madness. 

QUEEN [Sinking into chair L. C] 

Then I am to be chained to a crown I do not want! 

ROXO 

Just because you do not want it, you are the one fit 

person to wear it. Will not your eminence replace 

it on the royal head ! 

[The CARDINAL brings the crown that has been 
lying on the throne. As he moves to and fro the 
cries and cheering of the crowd penetrate again. 
''Margherita! Margheritaf" The QUEEN, a 
broken figure in black, sits motionless.] 

260 



QUEEN [/Is he approaches her] 

Let me be ! You have crowned me already ! 

CARDI. 

But not for Bosnavlna, Madam. 

[Applause of courtiers. He adjusts the crown.'] 
Receive as ruler of Bosnavlna the Crown of glory, 
honour and joy — and may God crown you with all 
princely virtues in this life and with an everlasting 
crown of glory in the life which is to come through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ! 

COURTIERS 
Amen ! 

QUEEN 

I ask only that God should crown me with Peace ! 

CAPT. THEO. 

Then — pardon me, Madam — had we not better com- 
plete the ceremony? 

ROXO 

You menace, Signor! 

CAPT. THEO. 

You do not suppose my Prince or my King will stom- 
ach your insult! 

ROXO 

Your Prince is too cautious. He looks too long before 

he leaps. 

261 



CAPT. THEO. 

He will not have to leap far. Do not forget he is 
on the frontier of your new possession. 

QUEEN l^Springing up] 

A new slaughter? O, my God! 

ROXO 

The God of Valdania has not saved us from Bos- 
navina to abase us before Rolmenia. Beware lest we 
annex you too ! 

[Sinister sympathetic murmurs from the COUR- 
TIERS.] 

CAPT. THEO. 

Do not be too sure even of Bosnavina. She will yet 
witness her Revenge — with our help and God's. I 
salute you, Madam. 
[Haughty exit.] 

QUEEN 

No ! No ! Call him back ! Let me be bound on your 
peace-altar. 

ROXO 

Sacrifice you to a petty princeling! No, Madam. The 
Queen of Valdania and Bosnavina can command a 
higher alliance. 
262 



QUEEN 

And it was for this you saved me ! For your unholier 
alliance! Oh I 

[Sinks into her chair and covers her eyes.] 

CARDL 

Come, Madam, a Te Deum in the chapel! 

QUEEN 

To thank God for Victory ! When Bosnavina is pray- 
ing Him for Revenge ! When Rolmenia hangs like a 
thundercloud! When only the little candle of my life 
stands between Valdania and the blackness of civil 
war! Leave me, leave me, all of you! 

[All look at one another in hesitation. At a sign 
from CAZOTTI the procession begins to file out. 
The CHORISTERS Start their Greek Church chant.'] 

CHORISTERS 

"Happy those that fear the Lord," etc. 

[The hymn mingles with the national anthem, 
which the crowd has now started outside. As the 
whole glittering company with its candles straggles 
out, the great medieval room becomes much dim- 
mer, and the flames of the logs flicker more 
weirdly than ever over the blazoned windows and 
the stone kings. But after an instant the church- 
hells clang out joyously, rockets and illuminations 
begin to be seen vaguely through the coloured 
glass, guzlas tinkle and bagpipes shrill, and the 
national anthem changes into Margherita's war- 

263 



march sung by thousands of throats. COR- 
PORAL VANNI and his men, entering R. with their 
stretcher, march unconsciously to its rhythm. 
They disappear on balcony R., the ope^iing of 
which sends up the melody in fuller volume, while 
in the frosty air the rockets are seen rising keenly 
against the sombre background of the mountains. 
The wind bangs the casement to behind the stretch- 
er-bearers and the noises dwindle.] 

QUEEN [Shivering] 

How cold it is ! 

[She uncovers her eyes.] 

Night so soon! 

[The stretcher-bearers re-enter, with the Pacifist's 
body under a white sheet, and the joyous street- 
sounds swell and subside with the opening and 
closing of the casement. Awed by their burden, 
they march out solemnly. The QUEEN, left alone, 
continues her frozen stare at the empty dusk. 
Then her lips shape a murmur.] 

QUEEN 

Daddy was right ! Queen in a cockpit ! 

[Slow curtain] 






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